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Andrea Dawn: Does the U.S. have contingency plans for a Category 8 eruption?
Jake: Neither of us is a civil defense expert, or is privy to the plans of those sorts of organizations. It's possible they do, but our job is to monitor the volcano, and that keeps us very busy!

Teelam: How can we directly compare the conditions on earth of 600,000 years ago to today? Hasn't the earth cooled somewhat?
Hank: That is a very interesting question. The earth is cooling, but at a very slow rate due to subsurface radioactivity that keeps the interior of the earth hot. Thus, 600,000 years ago is not that much different than current times, especially when we consider that the earth is billions of years old.

Home Dad: Is the Norris Basin still active and closed?
Hank: The Norris Basin is still very active, and was never totally closed. For about three months in 2003, about 1200 feet of trail were closed because parts of the trail were at boiling temperatures. What the park service did was put boardwalks in those areas, and this year, even though we had similar high ground temperatures occur, we kept the entire basin open. It is a fascinating area to visit, and I encourage people to come and view it!

Ebrengle: What are the boundaries of the volcano rim?
Jake: Most people define the volcano as the Yellowstone caldera. It's an area about 50 by 30 miles. There are lava flows that have erupted outside this area, so the region of volcanism is larger than the caldera itself.
Hank: The caldera is the central portion of the volcano that collapsed or subsided after the hundreds of cubic miles of magma was erupted. Three excellent places to view the caldera rim in Yellowstone are Gibbon Falls, Lake Butte Overlook, and Mt. Washburn. It is very difficult generally to see the caldera boundaries because there have been approximately 30 lava flows that have partially filled up the caldera. This indicates the continuing volcanism in Yellowstone, but of a non-catastrophic nature.

Philly: What are the possibilities of controlled venting for the purposes of power generation?
Hank: Yellowstone National Park was founded as the world's first national park because of its geothermal wonders. Power generation would take away both heat and water from the geothermal features, thus destroying the geothermal features. Because Yellowstone is a National Park, power generation will not be allowed under the Park's current guidance from the American people.