Q:   Are there no preventative measures that can be taken to avert a supervolcano eruption, perhaps by somehow releasing some of that pressure?
— Joshua C.
A:   At the present level of understanding the answer is, I am afraid, that intervention is inconceivable because of the enormous energy of a supervolcano system. Drilling into the magma chamber might cause the eruption. In science, one should never say prevention is impossible, but it's certainly almost unimaginable in the present state of knowledge.

One possibility, however, is to use supervolcanoes as a source of heat energy by circulating water above the top of the magma chamber. This might not stop an eventual eruption, but would reduce the energy in a useful way. Such an approach is almost certainly uneconomic (as an energy source).
— Prof. Steve Sparks

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Q:   What would all the ash in the air after an eruption do to satellite communications?
— Tien L., Seattle
A:   The ash in the air could certainly disrupt communications badly. Radio communications should be OK. Volcanic eruptions produce dramatic static electricity and lightning, and in quite small eruptions power failures occur.
— Prof. Steve Sparks

Professor Steve Sparks of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom is a volcano expert and co-author of a recently published report about supervolcanoes prepared for the British government's Geological Society Working Group.

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