EXCLUSIVE: Interview With USGS Yellowstone Scientists

It was really neat to see Dr. Heasler on that program! I got to put a face to his name.

Originally posted by UM_Gazz
After watching Super Volcano on Discovery Channel last night it made reading through this thread much more interesting.

It was a great show.. and in a way seems inspired by some of what was written here in this thread.. If you missed the show see more about it by clicking the following link:

SuperVolcano

Check out the amazing interactive features available on that page as well.

Interesting and kinda scary.

Quoting myself so it will be on this page as well.

Valhall.. Do you think the show was too dramatic?

The reality of something like this actually happening in our lifetimes seems very scary. Lets hope it stays a "what if"

Otherwise we're screwed!

Originally posted by UM_Gazz
After watching Super Volcano on Discovery Channel last night it made reading through this thread much more interesting.

It was a great show.. and in a way seems inspired by some of what was written here in this thread.. If you missed the show see more about it by clicking the following link:

I watched the show last night and while parts were interesting it did seem to have more of a commcerial/ entertainment nature rather then scientific view point. Did anyone else notice that?

Edit to add I missed the above reply before I posted mine so I now know that others saw the dramatic side.

[edit on 4/17/2005 by shots]

Right - I think the "docu-dramas"of today are the "catastrophe movies" of the 70's. BUT, at least they are also including facts either in the docudrama itself, or in this case, both in the movie and in the real-life interviews afterwards.

I'm little torqued though that Dr. Heasler didn't reveal the dead bison incident in this interview though lol

Let's review the first question, and his response:

Q: There have been continuing rumors at various web sites that animals are either leaving the park en-masse, or dying in large numbers. These rumors include stories of large numbers of fish dying in Yellowstone Lake. The cause is stated as increased toxic gaseous emissions. Are there animals leaving the park? Or dying in large numbers? Are there large numbers of fish being found dead in the lake?

A: Toxic emissions are no worse than usual at Yellowstone. The park's wildlife population has undergone no problems due to toxic emissions. Some of the park?s wildlife is migratory, such as bison, elk, and many species of birds. This year?s migrations were not unusual. Large numbers of dead fish were not found in Yellowstone Lake, or any other lake in Yellowstone.

naughty naughty! He states in the interview at the end of the docudrama that in 2003 they had this really bizarre death of 5 bison who - I paraphrase - fell over dead where they had been standing. Come to find out there was extremely toxic fumes in the area and they had a cold snap that allowed the gases to accumulate versus dissipating as they normally did.

Dr. Heasler has officially broken my heart