Yellowstone Supervolcano: Forecasting Ashfall Impacts from a Volcano Supereruption

Yellowstone is one of a few dozen volcanoes on earth capable of "supereruptions" that expel more than 1,000 cubic km of ash and debris.

The plumes from such eruptions can rise 30 to 50 km into the atmosphere, three to five times as high as most jets fly.

Yellowstone has produced three supereruptions in the past 2.1 million years. The most recent was 0.6 million years ago.

Eruptions this large can create their own continental- scale wind field, pushing ash more than 1,000 km against the prevailing, ambient wind field.

Source: USGS (Public Domain)