All language subtitles for Supervolcano.2005.iNT.DVDRip.XviD.AC3.CD1-NewMov.english

Keep it coming.

Set me down the computer.

My name is Richard Lieberman.

I am the scientist in charge of,

I was the scientist in charge of
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

I' m not sure what day it is.

And l' m not precisely sure
the eruption is over.

I' m trapped here in some kind
of military installation

in some godforsaken
part of Colorado.

We've got no food,
we've got no power and the ash fall

has contaminated the water supply.

The air is so thick with it that
we can barely breathe.

These men that l' m with,
they think if we stay put

that we are going to be rescued,

but I honest to god believe
that if we just watch and wait -

we are as good as dead.

Before it all happened,
many visitors to

Yellowstone were blissfully unaware
that it was volcanic.

After all where
was the cone shaped volcano,

Iike Mt St Helens or Vesuvius?

They didn't realise that they were
actually standing on top of it.

That beneath their feet was one of the
largest volcanoes in the world.

The truth is, we were only
just beginning to understand

the workings of the Park ourselves.

And VlRGlL, the Virtual Geophysical
lmaging Laboratory,

well, that was going to help us.

Maggie Chin,
KCVZ News Salt Lake City.

Hello.

Hello.
Your model is very impressive, sir.

Ah thank you Miss Chin.

My question is, will it help?

Help what, Miss Chin?

Well in the last decade
we have seen more

and more ground uplift at Yellowstone.

Twelve feet, I believe,
is the conservative estimate.

Well that estimate
is not conservative.

Nonetheless,
many of your colleagues

in the scientific
community believe that it's one

of many signs that an
eruption is coming.

I am going to let Rick Lieberman,

scientist in charge of
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory,

deal with that one.
Rick.

Thank you.

This is a sequence
of Yellowstone's geological

behaviour over
the past 1 00 years.

OK there we go.

You see,
what we have beneath our feet

here at Yellowstone is a
type of volcano,

a type of hidden volcano,
referred to as a restless caldera.

Caldera because you' ll notice
it resembles the shape

of a cauldron and restless because

it spends much
of its life doing like

what you see it's doing right here.

It's huffing and puffing
as the magma and the

hydrothermal systems beneath
the ground rise and fall.

For reasons that we actually
don't fully yet understand.

So this uplift
that you have mentioned,

Maggie, is very simply just a part
of everyday life here at Yellowstone.

So we are definitely not looking
at an imminent Super-eruption?

Let me say this,
the chances of a so-called

Super-eruption are on the order of
something like one in 600,000.

In fact it's more than twice
as likely that an airplane

will crash into your back yard.
So.

Haven't we just seen extra
ground uplift at Norris?

Yes we have as a matter of fact,

but that may well be hydrothermal,
you know?

A build up of water.

I' ll tell you what Miss Chin,

you give me ten bucks right now and

I will offer you odds of
600,000 to one.

So if this thing does go up
you'd make a killing.

OK.

Listen, I need the co-ordinates
of the Taiwan quake.

Yes, Kao-Hsiung region,
hey. 57 yup, 33. Ok.

This thing takes up
far too much space you know?

Hey, thanks Matt.

Guess what this is?

You tell me.

Pumice.

It comes from deep inside a volcano
that's so hot the rocks all melt.

But when the volcano blows up,
pshew it gets blown high into the sky.

And guess what? It floats.

Oh it does.

In my coffee

How neat is that?
A rock that floats.

Hey OK pal, that's enough.

Hey I found out about flights.
They said it's fine at seven months.

Oh come on Fi.

Honey we just flew to
Yellowstone and back.

Yes I know but A you were with me

and B you weren't in the air
for like 1 1 hours.

Then I don't get to see my mum
this side of Christmas do l?

What is it?

Shit. We got a quake.

What?

I' ll call you,
l' ll see you guys soon.

This is Matt.

What's the damage?

Oh some broken glass, for sure.
Nothing major.

OK what have we got?

Be in touch.
6.9 10km beneath the South Arm Fork.

OK l' m running a simulation.
6.9 at what?

10km beneath the South Arm Fork

That's confirmed 6.9,
standing by for more data.

Get me the web-cam images
of the Fishing Bridge area.

Over say the last five minutes.

Oh go back.

Tell Matt he needs to get
to the other end of the lake.

Where are you going to be?
.... in my office.

Fortunately due to the remoteness
of the area, damage was limited.

But tragically nine bodies have
been recovered so far.

Three of them children.

All from the Fishing Bridge
area of the Park. As well,

43 people have been taken to
hospital with various injuries,

some of them life threatening.

I am going to hand you over
to Mr Rick Lieberman

of the USGS then
we will take some questions. Rick.

The earthquake,
a 6.9 on the Richter Scale,

occurred at 12.13 local time,

centred at a depth
of 10km beneath Mount Sheridan

at the southern end
of Lake Yellowstone.

The earthquake triggered
a landslide off the

South Arm Fork
which in turn caused a tsunami

wave to hit the northern shore
here a few minutes later.

All indicators suggest
that this quake was not

volcanic,
but was tectonic in its nature,

caused by a grinding
together of the

earth's plates along
a known fault line.

The pattern of after shocks
of decreasing magnitude

is consistent with this type
of seismic activity.

Any questions?

Is it true
Old Faithful has stopped?

Yes that is true, however a ground
movement can both block

and unblock hydrothermal features.

Has there been any effect
on the uplift at Norris?

No, not that we have seen at all, no.

Are you still sure that there is
not going to be an eruption,

Mr Lieberman?

As I have said Miss Chin,

this earthquake was
not caused by volcanic activity.

As far as we know.

We are increasing our alert
status to Yellow,

which as you know,
does mean 'watch'.

Does that mean you are not ruling
out an eruption?

Look, Miss Chin,
Yellowstone has sometimes as many

as 3000 earthquakes every year,
none of them followed by eruptions.

Everything points to this being
a one-off tragic accident.

The truth?

We had the Hebgen Lake earthquake
in 1 959...

...couple of miles from Yellowstone.
7.5 on the Richter Scale.

Massive landslide, 29 dead.

And it didn't indicate a damn thing.

Again in 1975.
96, it didn't either..

...I mean hell,
I'm a politician not a scientist,

the USGS guys tell me
it's another Hebgen Lake,

I have got to take their word for it.

You know?
You go on the available facts.

Problem was that with a place
the size of Yellowstone,

well we didn't have
all the available facts.

Richard Lieberman, YVO.

Hey, it's me.
You had better take a look at KCVC News.

I will do that, thank you,
l' ll call you back.

Bye.

Well Maggie
I think that we ought to make

a clear distinction between a

regular volcanic eruption
and a Super-eruption.

Mount St Helens was the most violent
eruption in American history.

Killed 57 people and it erupted

about 1 cubic kilometer
of volcanic ash and rock.

Watching the great man huh?

Yes.

Now let's say this cube
here represented the amount

of volcanic material ejected
by Mount St Helens.

Now in volcanic terms it's a tiddler.
Krakatoa...

Tiddler.

The lndonesian volcano that erupted

in 1883 was 17 times larger
than Mount St Helens,

killed 36,000 people and it's
represented by this cube here.

Finally we have this.

This is 2,500 times the size
of Mount St.

Helens, this is a Super-volcano,

this is currently sitting underneath
the ground at Yellowstone Park

And when was the last time one of
these Super-eruptions happened?

About 74,000 years ago
in a place called

Toba on the other side of the world,
Sumatra.

Now the volcanic eruption there was
so vast it created a volcanic winter,

plunged the world into darkness and all
but wiped out the human race.

It missed one though didn't it?

And Yellowstone has produced eruptions
on this sort of scale before?

Oh yes, three times in the
last 2million years.

And do you think that the activity that

we are seeing
there right now may indicate

that it's about to happen
for a fourth time?

Yes I do believe that these events are cyclical.

Three caldera-forming eruptions
in the last 2.1 million years means

on average one eruption
every 600,000 years.

And we haven't had
an eruption like that at

Yellowstone for 640,000 years.

In other words, we are overdue?

No.

Yes I believe we are overdue.

Oh.

Jeez wept.

The warning signs are there
if you care to read them.

Thank you Dr Wylie.

You' re welcome

Thank you Dr Wylie.

My god.

I know he's your brother in law, Rick,
but the guy' s a total numpty.

It's not a good thing, right?

No that's not good, no.

We were trying to monitor something

so vast that it
was almost incomprehensible.

The Park itself
is over 2million acres

and somewhere
within that was the volcano.

But for the longest time
we couldn't figure out where.

Then in the '80s NASA took some
aerial photographs of the Park.

And these photographs revealed the
volcanic crater for the first time.

It turns out that we'd been
looking on the wrong scale.

This crater measured 85km by 45.

Big enough to hold the
largest city in the world,

Tokyo,
population 18million.

Yes I did see
Mr Wylie on the television.

No, no, approximately
every 600,000 years sir.

I mean with a conservative margin
of error we could be out by 100.

And I am telling you sir,
we are not hiding anything, alright?

Everything we know is out
on our web-site.

How' s it looking Matt?

Oh it's looking good, normal.

Like to make a couple more
passes though.

No sir,
l' m afraid that drilling down to try

to siphon off the magma wouldn't work.

No. In fact it could probably cause
the whole thing to go off.

I don't like that,
can we get down there?

It's all true,
this thing's ready to blow

in a matter of days,
if not hours. And everybody,

absolutely everybody' s going to die.

Horribly. Ha, oh you' re welcome,
your holiness. Ha.

Nice.

CO2 levels are good up here

but ground level CO2
that's killing those trees.

Is there or
is there not a magma chamber

underneath Yellowstone National Park?

Yes Kenneth.

Yes and is this magma chamber
of sufficient size

that if there
was an eruption there it

could potentially be rated
as a Super-eruption?

Yes. Exactly. Could.

Well l' m not saying that there will,
l' m saying that there's a chance.

No what you said on television
was 'overdue'.

You know that's what you said.
'Overdue' you said.

Caught up in the moment I expect.

Well you and a few million
other people I guess.

Hey let's not do this now.

Look sis, I have a legitimate
scientific viewpoint.

He thinks he's...

Look have you ever actually
been to Yellowstone?

It's not necessary.

Your excellent web-site provides
all the data, I just interpret it.

Oh no you misinterpret,
that's what you do.

Can we not do this now?
Please.

Look all l' m saying is you do not
go on television

and create a mass panic over
one potential scenario,

just in order to sell a book.

Oh come on.

You don't go on television
and tell everybody that everything's

going to be just fine when you know damn
well it might not be.

Kenneth.

No but just.

No, both of you, I said not now.

God l' m sick of this.
Do you have nothing else?

You haven't seen your nephew
in over a year.

I' m sorry.
Hello Will. How' s school?

Seamless.

Sorry.

When I first met Rick
he was a geology student,

part of a team studying
Yellowstone Lake.

They discovered this enormous 2000
foot log bulge beneath the Lake.

Everyone got very excited about it,

press got hold of the
story and convinced a lot

of people that
Yellowstone was going to blow.

It created this huge panic
and then nothing happened.

It made Rick very cautious about
what he said in public.

Then when he got the
job as scientist in charge,

people paid even more attention
to what he said.

So, it's a boy right?

Mmm, a little boy dragon.

Huh.

And with a new feature.

Show me.

Some sort of anomaly
above the magma chamber,

just below Firehole Creek Basin.

Oh yes.

Could be water or gas.

Or an intrusion of magma through a

fault line opened up by the quake,
right?

Impossible to tell until
we get a clear image.

...Oh thanks.

We are still processing all the data
from the Kao-Hsiung quake.

Oh god that was days ago.

Yes I know.

Listen Matt's found
a section of dead pine

to the north east of Sour Creek Dome.

You got a visitor.

Hang on,
north east of Sour Creek Dome along

a ring fracture of the caldera rim.

CO2 or heat?

CO2 suffocating the roots.

The magma's only two to three
kilometres deep at that point.

Yes or less if it's rising.

Alright so, who is it?

Wendy something from FEMA.

Wendy Reiss?

The under secretary in charge of the

Federal Emergency
Management Agency is here,

you told her to wait in my office?
You' re fired Dave.

You can't fire me.

Yes you' re lucky that's true.

I' m sorry.

Ms Reiss.

You have caught me off guard.
I' m Richard Lieberman.

Yes Rick,
I recognise you from the television.

Oh.

Please call me Wendy.

Thanks, well, sorry about the mess,
Wendy.

No problem.

It's been a busy couple of days.
Please sit down.

Yes, l' m just going to cut
to the chase Rick.

I want to know if we should
be worried about this.

Er, based on the data
that we' re getting,

yes there are indicators
that there could be an eruption.

Or it could be business
as usual at Yellowstone.

And if there is an eruption
then there is a good possibility

that it's going
to be a moderate one.

This isn't enough Rick.

If there's even the slightest chance
of this happening,

I want to know what that means.

I want to know
what we can do about it.

How much do you know
about Super-eruptions?

Super in front of eruption
I don't imagine means better?

Can I show you something?

Please.

See the magma chamber
that sits underneath Yellowstone,

well here, we think it's roughly

the same dimensions as
the caldera rim itself.

We think it's around 40km wide
by 80km long and around 8km deep.

You think.

Yes, it's a very difficult thing
to get a clear picture of.

In fact the only way to even
attempt to see

a magma chamber is ironically enough
by relying on earthquakes.

Have a seat please.

Thank you.

It's called seismic tomography.

What we do is we plant an array
of seismographs throughout

the Park and then
when an earthquake occurs the seismic

shockwaves from these events
travel through the earth.

Now these waves move slightly slower

through the molten rock
than through the solid rock,

so we can use these slight differences
in arrival time here at

the seismometers to begin
to calculate and plot

the rough dimensions of the chamber.
It's kind of like sonar.

And that tells you how much
magma is down there?

Well what we are trying
to determine essentially

is the nature of this magma.

Is it eruptible magma?

Is it too viscous,
is it too sticky to go anywhere?

Or is it molten enough, is it liquid
enough that it can escape?

You know we also want to know how
it's situated in the chamber,

is it kind of spread
out in individual pods

or pockets throughout the chamber?

Or and this is what we don't want,
is it accumulated in one place?

Sufficient enough that it could trigger
a Super-eruption?

OK let's talk worst case scenario.

OK. Well we have run
some projections based

on the first Super-eruption at
Yellowstone at 2.1 million years ago.

Essentially because this is the one
we have the most data available on.

Now if the next one were to behave
in a similar way,

then we would be looking
at between two

and 3,000 cubic kilometres of rock,

gas and ash erupting across
the United States

in a pattern that looks like this.

Zone 1 represents 1 00km radius
around Yellowstone.

Basically everything
in this area would

be completely wiped out
by pyroclastic flows.

That's the rock and ash that spills
from the side of an erupted column?

That is a pyroclastic flow.

These surges can travel
up to 700km an hour.

So yes these journalists
were very, very lucky.

Yes this woman was caught at
the edge of a pyroclastic flow,

you see these surges can reach up
to 800 degrees Celsius.

Anyway yes that's what happens
to anyone that's

within the first 1 00km radius
of a volcano....

...Now out here in Zones 2 and 3,

virtually everyone
and everything in these two areas

will be trapped by extremely
heavy ash fall.

That's roughly 3million people.

Yes.

And here out in Zone 4 we' re talking
about ash fall of around 15cm.

15cm that doesn't sound like a lot
but you add rain to 15cm

of volcanic ash and that is
certainly enough to collapse a roof.

And then you know in Zone 5 it
gets down to around 5cm of ash fall.

This is a huge area,
covering most of the grasslands.

Any animals that happen
to be grazing there.

And that's also
the grain belt of course,

so that's all the food gone.

And then Zone 6 we tail down
to around 1cm of ash,

extending out
to the Eastern Seaboard.

A centimetre. I read it takes just
one millimetre to close an airport.

Yes. See the thing that
people don't understand

about volcanic ash is it's
not like ash from your

backyard barbeque, it's rock.
It's abrasive,

it's pervasive,
it's destructive,

it shorts out electrical equipment,
it clogs machinery.

You name it.

It's also extremely tiny,
it's 100 microns across,

it's so tiny you can inhale it
and when you do it combines

with the moisture
in your lungs and forms

a cement-like mixture.

You essentially drown in
what's basically liquid concrete.

Anway that is the worst case scenario.
So you tell me.

I mean if an event like
this were to happen,

what is FEMA going to do?

Is it going to happen?

Is it going to happen?
Yes. It is going to happen.

Is it going to happen
in our lifetime?

I don't know.

And that is the most honest answer
that anybody can give you, Wendy.

I don't know.

I' ll beep Rick

Well contact the other stations,
re-establish an exact location.

Mr Lieberman.

Yes hang on, hang on.

Mr Lieberman.

Yes.

Are you still denying the
possibility of a Super-eruption?

Norris,
as I've said to you before Miss Chin,

Norris was a hydrothermal event
and by no means

a sure fire indicator
of volcanic activity.

And certainly not on the scale
that you are referring to.

Nevertheless we have issued
a Code Red warning

because we don't take
these things lightly.

Yes thank you.

Daddy.

Yes. He's getting famous.

But you can't rule out
a Super-eruption can you?

He looks hot.

It's twice as likely
as an asteroid strike,

according to some experts.

And half as unlikely
as being struck by lightening

Miss Chin and how many
of us lose sleep over that?

That's all the time we have,
thank you.

Thank you very much.

Too much politics
and not enough science.

OK are we ready to run
this simulation?

Let's do it.

Alright,
so what I'd like to do is run through

a couple of potential
scenarios here.

Hey Rick we've got another quake
just over a mile south of Norris.

OK how big?

1.9.

1.9 OK.

Now this anomaly that
we have discovered near Norris,

now this could be water and gas
as we know, or worst case

scenario, it could be
a new pod of eruptible magma.

So I want to concentrate
our simulations around

this area and see
what the potential damage could be.

OK?

So option number one,
let's say that

we've got one cubic kilometer
of eruptible magma.

OK?

And drop it.

Run it.

No eruption.

Based on option one, it seems not.

Alright then let's keep all
the other parameters the same,

but increase it by five.
So we' ll make it five cubic kilometres.

OK how big is this?

Moderate, VEl-2.

VEl-2. And duration?

Over approximately three days.

With that amount of magma
it could have been a lot bigger.

OK let's increase
it by another factor of five.

And make it 25 cubic kilometres.

OK.

Whenever you are ready.

VEl-5. Mount St Helens size.

Right. So 1 0 times more magma,
1 000 times more eruption.

Potentially.

OK so let's increase it
by another factor

of five and make it
1 25 cubic kilometres.

And this time let's
just run it this time

just from the hydrothermal blast.

Sure.

VEl-5 again.

OK.
VEl-5. again.

Oh what happened?

Computer glitch?

OK tell me what we just saw.
Alright l' ll say it.

If we have a reservoir of melt down

there that's larger than
1 25 cubic kilometres

then this model
is telling us that even

a moderate eruption near
Norris could destabilise the rest

of the chamber and trigger a...

VEl-8 Super-eruption.

That's great, great,
and if frogs

had wings then they wouldn't bump

their little green arses
hopping around then.

Ha ha. If,
if there was a pocket of melt over

125 cubic kilometres in a
possible eruption at Norris

may trigger further
eruptions which maybe,

just possibly could register
as VEl-8.

Brilliant.
Great.

Jesus you' re letting yourself
be spooked by a video game. Oh...

Rick?

Yes.

Hey it's Nancy.
You'd better get up here right away.

OK so where's
this uplift concentrated?

Here, Firehole River Basin.

It's miles from Norris.

Hang on, the question is, is this
rising magma or is this ground water?

I could make a plausible case
for either.

Yes I know you could.

Another 2.2 to the
north east of Norris.

That's the third today,
so we've got another swarm coming?

I need the SRl data
for the entire Park.

Can we get more instrumentation down
at Firehole River Basin?

If we steal them from elsewhere.

Well, steal them.

The ground uplift,
earthquake swarms,

rising levels of carbon dioxide
and the hydrothermal event.

All of these things can be indicators
of volcanic activity.

Equally they can mean nothing.

We closed the Park to be safe,
but that didn't stop

the hoards of people coming to check
it out for themselves.

Hey Rick, Rick.

Hang on.

Hey.

Miss Chin.

Can we come in?

Look, I've got to cover
this one way or another.

It's my job.

OK. Do you want to cover this?

Alright then you need to understand
what it is that you are covering.

Yes it's me, get me Matt.
Come on in, Maggie.

Guys.

I' m sorry guys, not the crew, OK?
Come on through.

Just not the crew. It's me, right,

we are going to give
Maggie Chin the tour.

Take a look up there.

You are looking at the north
western rim of the giant caldera.

Where the ground fell over 1000 feet
after the last Super-eruption.

So we are in the volcano?

Sure are.

I thought we'd take a little drive
to the other side.

So, what can you see?

Yellowstone Lake.

OK. Now look out across
the lake to that range

of mountains on the far side.

The Absarokas?

That's right. How far would you say
those mountains are from here?

How far?
1 0 miles?

Roughly 1 5.
Now those mountains are

where you will find the eastern edge
of the giant caldera.

The western edge is about another
1 5 miles behind us.

And north to south it's even further,
it's over 50 miles.

So that's about 45 minutes
of driving and

we are still only in the centre
of the volcano crater.

What's your point, Matt?

My point is,
if this thing erupts you' ll die.

If you think you are going to
win some award or get promoted

because you knew about this first,
you won't.

There won't be anyone around to
give you your pat on the back.

Maam, you need to get
some perspective.

Where is it?

Norris.

Do you want to suggest
a change of alert?

Yes you know another
Red is going to create more panic.

This is as sure as we get.

I know.

This is imminent.

I know.

You want me to plug
the data into VlRGlL?

And find out what?

Hang on, hang on please.

No really, and find out what?

Please.
Let's do that and just see if...

Jesus Rick.

Look there's going to be an eruption,
OK we know that.

I don't need you to tell me
what harmonic tremor means.

So now you need to advise an upgrade
to the alert status

and you need to let people know.

OK so if I upgrade to a Red
everyone's going to think that

we've got a Super-eruption
on our hands.

I am not going to be held responsible
for some kind of mass panic here.

OK it is our responsibility.

Jock.

No shut up Dave.

It's our job,
it's our duty to let people know,

to tell them what we know.

So get your arse off the fence.

And you tell me
what going on TV and

telling Joe Six-Pack that the end
of the world is nigh.

You tell me how that's going
to help this situation?

What do you think
our purpose is here?

I will brief FEMA
and I will brief the State

but just before they evacuate
the whole of America,

they are going to want to know
how big the thing's going to be.

Well at least the ship's got
a bloody captain now.

What is going on?

Nothing is going on,
whatever you say.

Oh come on, what,
no mention of it for weeks and all

of a sudden we' re going to England?

It's not like that.

I' m not supposed to be suspicious?

Look you said that you wanted
to go and see your mum, right?

Oh Jesus Rick,
just be honest with me.

I' m being honest with you.

Are you?

Yes.

If this is going to be a big eruption,
you've got to come with us

Look it's going to be exactly
what I said that it's going to be.

You know, this little girl
may never meet her father

because of the decision
you are making right now

Come on, we all believe that this is
going to be a moderate eruption.

And yes, things are going to go a

Iittle crazy
in this country for a while.

That's because everyone's
nervous right now.

God Rick.

That's why I'd just be happier
if you both were in London,

when all that's going on.

And then when things calm down
then l' ll come.

I' ll see you.

Can we go on the plane now?

Yes you' re going to go on the plane now.
You take care of your mum OK?

OK.

You call me when you get there.

I will.

Get on the plane.
I love you. See ya.

I' m going to refer you to our
San Francisco FEMA office

and I want you to talk
to Lisa Cochrane.

She will be the one to direct
any activity at that point.

OK

One moment.

Bring the centre screen volume up.

A leaked e-mail seen by
KCVZ confirms that the

US Geological Survey expects
an eruption any time soon.

Possibly within hours.

And possibly with devastating
consequences for America and the world.

Oh god.

I' m Maggie Chin with KCVZ News,

reporting to you live from
Yellowstone National Park.

Sir, this is Rick Lieberman.

Hi.

Rick, Joe Foster,
Secretary for Homeland Security.

Michael you know of course.

Hi.

Governor Marshall should be
joining us at any moment.

I didn't expect to see you here.

Hello everybody.

Billy, glad you could join us.

Half my State's about to be vaporised,
I thought I should be, you know?

Everyone please have a seat.
I' ll get straight to the point.

This leak hasn't
just caused chaos here,

but around the world.

Well it certainly didn't
come from USGS.

Nor from FEMA

Yes alright people,
the buck is well passed.

Wherever it came from,
the media have got hold of it

and now have got to address it.

So Rick, what l' m going to ask
you is very simple.

I need you to make
a statement ruling out the

possibility of a Super-eruption.

Ruling it out?

Nothing bigger than Mount St Helens.

People would accept that and it's
what the evidence suggests.

I can't.

I beg your pardon?

I' m sorry I can't,
I can't say that.

Why the hell not?

Because our computer
model now suggests

that even a small eruption
could destabilise

the magma chamber and trigger
a Super-eruption.

Rick I understand that but you are
talking a remote possibility.

No l' m talking about...

What I am talking
about are hard facts.

Fact one,
there are food riots.

People are fighting each other
to leave the country.

Fact two, the dollar is on its knees,
Wall Street has crashed.

Your country is going down
the toilet

and you are telling me
you are not prepared to make

a statement to help stop that?

Please with all due respect sir...

Governor Marshall?

Rick, every highway,
every lnterstate in Montana,

Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska,
the Dakotas,

Iowa and Nevada's turning into a
god-damn parking lot.

Now everybody' s trying to get
the hell away from Yellowstone,

nothing's even happened yet.

Yet.

The point is Rick,
even if the worst does happen,

we are clogging up the roads,
screwing up the airlines,

it's not going to do
any of us any good.

Yes I appreciate that,
Wendy, I do.

But until I have
something definitive,

please don't make me make
statements that...

Rick, you know as
well as I do that harmonic

tremor can stop as well as start.

Mike.

It is your responsibility.

My responsibility
is to tell the public

and the land-holders
what is happening at Yellowstone.

You know that.
You used to know that

Actually Rick,
as a federal employee,

your responsibility is
what's best for the country.

Now you have evidence
of an eruption but,

and I have heard you say
this yourself again and again,

chances of a Super-eruption
are virtually zero.

No you are right, but l...

Then I really don't see
what the problem is here.

Thank you all,
see you in 10 minutes.

Tremor' s strong and constant,

I'm plugging the co-ordinates
into the seismic image.

Should give us a clearer idea
of where the magma is.

Good.
You got everything you need, Dave?

I think so.

Right.

Well, enough to get me going
until you guys join me tomorrow.

Oh we' ll be out here first thing.

Alright. Don't leave it too long.

Don't worry.

OK.

You out of here?

I' m out of here,
see you tomorrow.

You take care man.

Ladies and gentlemen,
as you know...

Rick's on TV.

...America and the
world has been watching

with growing anxiety
the developing situation

at Yellowstone National Park.

After a full briefing from the
US Geological Survey and in

particular the scientist in charge at
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory,

Rick Lieberman,
I can assure you all that after

weeks of intensive monitoring
at Yellowstone,

they have gathered no evidence
to suggest a so-

called Super-eruption is imminent.

Instead the USGS believes that
a small to moderate

eruption - an event
comparable in size

to the eruption of Mount St Helens
in 1980 - may be due.

At this moment we are taking
the appropriate precautions

in line with this scale of eruption,

the evacuation of the Yellowstone
vicinity is currently underway.

For those in the States bordering

Wyoming we ask you to follow
standard state advice, remain.

indoors, seal all doors
and windows and stock up

on sufficient food
and water for three days.

I ask my fellow
Americans to stay calm and

to use your usual good sense
at this time.

Thank you

Mr Lieberman, Mr Lieberman,

Mr Lieberman up until now you
have been extremely

measured in your statements
about Yellowstone.

Do you agree with Secretary Foster
in what he's just said now?

Yes yes I do.

Thank you.

What?

They have nailed the poor
bastard to the wall.

Final call for passengers on
flight HA356 to San Francisco,

boarding at Gate 24.
Thank you.

Boarding pass please.

Right hand side sir towards
the rear of the plane.

OK thank you.

You sitting up here?

Yes, no l' m back there.

Important business
in Washington and USGS

has you sitting
in the back of the plane?

I recommend a sweet publishing deal,
big TV star like you.

Oh yes.

I take it you had a gun to your
head this afternoon?

Yes you could say that.

Fiona and William?

Oh they are on a plane to London.
See you.

OK guys, the last number' s in.
Fingers crossed.

Just what are we looking at here?

1500 cubic kilometres of melt.

1500.

That's just the top of the chamber.

Sir please sit down,

the captain hasn't turned the
fasten seat belt sign off yet.

Sir there are
no cellphones permitted.

...Field Office...

I have to ask you to turn
your phone off.

Jock, I think he's over here.

Argh. Don't touch my arm.

This is it, Matt, it's started.