Yellowstone, Wyoming. In spring 2003, strange things began happening in America's most famous national park. The tallest geyser in the world, which can go 50 years without erupting, burst into life.
Spraying columns of superheated water, 100s of feet into the air. There were new cracks in the ground, the ground heated up to the point where the National Park Service had to close some trails. Not long after, a group of bison collapsed and died, victims of poisonous fumes from below the ground. Satellite pictures revealed that something ominous was happening beneath the earth. On the internet, unfounded rumours spread that a super volcano, an eruption so large, that it only occurs on average every 700,000 years, was about to blow. These things happen, you can look at the earth and see the scars. They happen, and they're going to happen again.
A million times more powerful than Hiroshima, super volcanoes are real events. Over 20 have been recorded in the history of the earth and over half of these happened in the USA. For the last 30 years scientists have been investigating where the next super volcano could erupt. Their research has revealed that an active super volcano exists under Yellowstone National Park. Naked Science follows these scientists and investigates the vital question, if the Yellowstone Caldera erupted today, could we survive? This documentary includes a Yellowstone timeline of past eruptions, how Yellowstone would affect the world, and what impact will it be for the United States.