Publication Abstracts

Rampino 2004

Rampino, M., 2004: Super-eruptions and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). In Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars, IAU Symposium 213. R.P. Norris and F.H. Stootman, Eds., Astronomical Society of the Pacific, pp. 439-444.

Volcanic super-eruptions that produce >1000 km3 of ejected material and greater than or equal to 1000 Mt (1015g) of stratospheric aerosols and sub-micron dust may be capable of creating global climatic disturbances sufficient to cause a severe setback or crash of modern civilization. Eruptions of similar magnitude are estimated to occur on average about every 50,000 to 100,000 years, which may be considerably more frequent than impacts by asteroids and comets that could cause similar climatic disasters. Prediction, prevention, and mitigation of global volcanic climatic disasters are potentially more difficult than planetary protection from large impactors, so that volcanism might provide an ultimate limit on the longevity of technological civilizations. If the lifetime of technological civilizations were limited to less than 50,000 years by volcanism, then the number of communicative civilizations in the Galaxy might be less than 1 per 10 million stars. Thus, super-eruptions on geologically active, habitable planets may strongly affect the prospects in radio telescopic SETI.

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BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{ra09300d,
  author={Rampino, M.},
  editor={Norris, R. P. and Stootman, F. H.},
  title={Super-eruptions and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)},
  booktitle={Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars},
  year={2004},
  pages={439--444},
  publisher={Astronomical Society of the Pacific},
  address={San Francisco},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - CPAPER
ID  - ra09300d
AU  - Rampino, M.
ED  - Norris, R. P.
ED  - Stootman, F. H.
PY  - 2004
TI  - Super-eruptions and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)
BT  - Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars
SP  - 439
EP  - 444
PB  - Astronomical Society of the Pacific
CY  - San Francisco
ER  -

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