Phases of the Emergency Management Cycle in Responding to Yellowstone Volcanic Action

Yellowstone Caldera
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Description of the threat
Yellowstone Caldera, also known as Yellowstone Supervolcano, refers to arguably the largest and most destructive volcanoes worldwide, according to the American Geophysical Union (2021). The Supervolcano, which can eject about 1,000 cubic kilometers of material, is located in Yellowstone National Park in Northwest Wyoming. The volcanic action of Yellowstone traces its origin 16.5 million years back when a plume of magma fueled intense volcanic activities along the border of present-day Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon (Morton, 2021). While the magma plum was originally stationary, the movements of the North American plate to the southwest resulted in a 750 kilometers-long volcanic action, which emptied the magma chamber, causing the overlying land to collapse, forming calderas measuring seventy by forty-five kilometers. The successions of explosive eruptions have also taken place 2.1 million,1.3 million, and 640,000 years back, causing floods of lava, calderas and created part of the Snake River Plain (Morton, 2021).
According to the United States Geological Survey (2021), a volcanic eruption is ‘super’ if it releases over two hundred and forty cubic miles of materials upon explosion. With the Yellowstone Caldera estimated to emit over one thousand cubic kilometers of materials, a giant eruption would result in rocks, falling ash, global climate change, overrunning neighboring states with pyroclastic flows, and ground surface collapse, making it a significant potential threat.
Phases of the Emergency Management Cycle in responding to Yellowstone volcanic action
The Emergency Management Cycle begins with mitigation of the threat. Mitigation is the course of reducing the severity and seriousness of an event. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) members achieve this by utilizing seismic stations and networks that provide real-time monitoring of the Yellowstone volcano to identify earthquakes as they happen. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers are also used to collect and process data that gives a picture of Yellowstone (Brantley et al....