• Question: @Kate if we were to calculate the amount of energy in yellowstone and that of both the nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima which would be greater, would it also be a close tie?

    Asked by 228tema45 to Kate on 12 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Kate Dobson

      Kate Dobson answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      We measure how explosive a volcano is using the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The famous eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 had an VEI index of 6 and erupted about 25 cubic kilometers of material. This is about the same as 200 megatons of TNT or about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Hiroshima bomb. It’s also about 4 times the yield of Tsar Bomba which is the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated.

      The last Yellowstone eruption at about 640,000 years ago had a VEI index of 8) and erupted over 1000 cubic kilometers. It has estimated that this eruption probably had the equivalent force of 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding every second.

      The largest eruptions we know of erupted even more (over 5000 cubic km) to were potentially 2,600,000 times as powerful as the as the Hiroshima bomb.

      Did you know there are two ancient super volcanoes in the the UK? Glen Coe in Scotland and the Scafell region of the Lake District.

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