Below: The entire introduction as it will appear my next novel*.
NA Newsfeed—Breaking News—05Aug2229.16:23GMT
The U.S. Geologic Survey outpost in Bozeman, Mt. reported this morning that four vents identified to be directly connected to the Yellowstone Caldera erupted within eighteen minutes of each other. The skies immediately over the region have begun to fill with volcanic ash and various sulfuric compounds, immediately widening the safety cordon around Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding environs.
Evacuations have been sounded throughout the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, and evacuation alerts have been widecast throughout Wyoming and the surrounding states. Scientists at the U.S.G.S. outpost have reported that the eruptions agree with their projections of the imminent eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera, an event that has been widely anticipated over roughly the past two hundred years, though scientists had no way of knowing the ultimate moment, nor the magnitude, of the eruption.
Yellowstone National Park has not allowed visitors since 2163, when the heat and fumes from the park’s famous vents and geysers became either too hot for human and animal toleration, or began to spew sulfurs and other volatile chemicals that suffocated the animals in the vicinity. In 2140, a permanent outpost was set up in Bozeman, tasked specifically to monitor the Yellowstone Caldera in an attempt to identify the approximate time of eruption, and to monitor the air quality and current weather patterns in the area to provide early warning in the event of an imminent eruption.
Live data from the Global Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is being sent to the U.S.G.S. in order to provide an accurate projection of the movement of the volcanic residue being ejected into the atmosphere by the caldera. Volcanic ash and soot is known to shut down aircraft and some aerospacecraft engines, so a no-fly zone is being established in the surrounding area. As the area of the ash cloud widens, air traffic in the North American region will be heavily impacted. The danger will not be lessened until the cloud has largely dissipated, and scientists have no way of estimating at this point whether that will happen in days, weeks, or months.
Scientists worldwide are responding to the event. Many of them are referring to the historic report delivered by Mohamar Reed to the U.N. in 2180, saying that this will be the environmental “straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Current evacuation and alert notices
Detail on Yellowstone Caldera
Detail on U.S.G.S. Yellowstone Caldera Research Program
Text of Report #UN44089/MR02052180, delivered by Dr. Mohamar Reed on 2 May 2180: On the threat represented by the Yellowstone Caldera to destabilize the environmental state of the globe
*Copyright 2009 Steve Jordan. All rights reserved.