Yellowstone Supervolcano Will Erupt Sooner Than You Think And With Less Warning

Many of the things that make Yellowstone National Park beautiful — from Old Faithful to the multi-colored geothermal pools — are also a sign that something is very wrong. Those features are driven by the supervolcano that lies between the surface, a volcano that scientists believe will erupt again at some point, possibly plunging the Earth into a volcanic winter.

It erupted 640,000-years-ago, 1.3 million-years ago, and 2.1 million-years-ago, kind of like clockwork. Do the math. The next one is coming.

And while scientists have long thought that there would be plenty of warning — as in hundreds, if not thousands, of years — that is no longer the case.

Watch: Yellowstone Supervolcano Will Erupt Sooner Than You Think And With Less Warning

The New York Times, reporting on a presentation made by an Arizona State University researcher, says the process leading to eruption could take just decades.

When the volcano does erupt, scientists believe that could send 2,500 more times rock and ask into the sky than Mount St. Helens did when it erupted in 1980.

That would have the ability to disrupt, if not end, global communications as well drop the temperature of the Earth.

The good news is that they don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

» Read the full New York Times story here.

Top photo shows tourists at Yellowstone taking photos of Yellowstone, one of the hydrothermal features powered by the supervolcano. Photo via AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

The map — via USGS — in the story shows the expected ash distribution compared to what happened after Mount St. Helens erupted.