Yellowstone Super Volcano not the size previously expected

[Captain Kremmen]

No.
It's over twice the size!

The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report.
A study shows that the magma chamber is about 2.5 times bigger than earlier estimates suggested.
A team found the cavern stretches for more than 90km (55 miles) and contains 200-600 cubic km of molten rock.
The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25312674

It hasn't blown for 650,000 years but is currently active.
Should we be worried?

 

[exchemist]

No.
It's over twice the size!

The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report.
A study shows that the magma chamber is about 2.5 times bigger than earlier estimates suggested.
A team found the cavern stretches for more than 90km (55 miles) and contains 200-600 cubic km of molten rock.
The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25312674

It hasn't blown for 650,000 years but is currently active.
Should we be worried?

Some reading material here:

http://www.uusatrg.utah.edu/PAPERS/2007chang.pdf

https://rock.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/9/article/i1052-5173-22-9-4.htm

What I take from all this is that, presumably, the fact there are only modest signs of awakening puts some time limit on how soon it might erupt, on a human timescale. So maybe a degree of hope, plus a big dash of fatalism, but moderated in the short term (say a few generations?) by some mildly reassuring science. I note that the most likely from of activity is thought to be activity within the caldera rather than a cataclysmic magma outpouring and that the former is given an annual likelihood of between 2 and 6 in a hundred thousand.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

So
If you want to worry, worry about a large asteroid collision.
It'll do some damage when it does blow though.