02-12-2024, 08:27 AM
My ramblings below are inspired by this article..
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/..._the_lava/
And I am posting this not so much as to focus on what is happening in the article, but to strike a sharp contrast with what happens here.
Here the authorities are hampered by existing norms that have them not touch something without becoming inherently liable for having done so, including all the unintended consequences that might follow, along with the added layer of our local culture's sensitivities.
In Iceland a series of eruptions began a few years ago that has many parallels to our volcanoes. As is available here a lot of the scientific community's monitoring is online so it's easy to follow the eruptions and the magmatic changes happening between each, if one is so inclined. And besides they put up a lot of webcams that are online 24/7, so if that kind of thing is attractive one can become quite engaged. Arm chairing it from affair..
When the eruption began the first three events were in a remote area and besides the science and being able to view the eruptions through a multitude of webcams they were left to being awe inspiring. More recently the events have been much closer to developed property, and right in the backyard of one of their geothermal plants. Some may have heard of the Blue Lagoon. It's ponds that people pay to swim in made of the brine, the water that is left over as part of a geothermal plant's operations. It's the same as we, here, get rid of by reinject it back where it came from. It's the same water that polluted and killed a river in New Zealand before they figured out how to safely dispose it. But in Iceland, besides all sorts of other things they do with it, it's a tourist attraction.
A few days ago another phase of the eruption happened. Right now each event creates, as we're used to here, a high volume fissure eruption. But there, the last few only lasted about 24hrs each. And the last one, which happened on Feb 8, crossed a main highway and broke the main part of that side of the island's plumbing system. The plumbing carries some of that same left over hot water from the geothermal plant and distributes it throughout every building as a source of heat, and there is a second supple for water that is cleaned and similarly distributed throughout the region. And when the lava crossed the road it also covered and broke the main pipes coming from the plant.
That all sounds like just another day in Puna, right? Well, check this out. That happened on the 8th, today is the 11th, three days, and the headline in the local rag right now is; Completed building the road over the lava. As in, they've already put back their infrastructure. Which I find to be such a striking contrast to the way things happen here I thought I'd share it.
From the link above..
The work on the construction of a utility pipe by the Njarðvík pipeline was successful and safe last night. Road construction over the lava field has been completed and about half of the steel pipes that make up the pipeline have been welded together.
About 50 people worked on the project last night and today, new people are taking over.
This is stated in an announcement on HS Orka’s website. It states that all the connection equipment has been constructed successfully and that a part of it has already been installed at the northern end of the lava field.
So yeah, cut to the chase and get on with it already. What a striking difference to how we do things here.
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/..._the_lava/
And I am posting this not so much as to focus on what is happening in the article, but to strike a sharp contrast with what happens here.
Here the authorities are hampered by existing norms that have them not touch something without becoming inherently liable for having done so, including all the unintended consequences that might follow, along with the added layer of our local culture's sensitivities.
In Iceland a series of eruptions began a few years ago that has many parallels to our volcanoes. As is available here a lot of the scientific community's monitoring is online so it's easy to follow the eruptions and the magmatic changes happening between each, if one is so inclined. And besides they put up a lot of webcams that are online 24/7, so if that kind of thing is attractive one can become quite engaged. Arm chairing it from affair..
When the eruption began the first three events were in a remote area and besides the science and being able to view the eruptions through a multitude of webcams they were left to being awe inspiring. More recently the events have been much closer to developed property, and right in the backyard of one of their geothermal plants. Some may have heard of the Blue Lagoon. It's ponds that people pay to swim in made of the brine, the water that is left over as part of a geothermal plant's operations. It's the same as we, here, get rid of by reinject it back where it came from. It's the same water that polluted and killed a river in New Zealand before they figured out how to safely dispose it. But in Iceland, besides all sorts of other things they do with it, it's a tourist attraction.
A few days ago another phase of the eruption happened. Right now each event creates, as we're used to here, a high volume fissure eruption. But there, the last few only lasted about 24hrs each. And the last one, which happened on Feb 8, crossed a main highway and broke the main part of that side of the island's plumbing system. The plumbing carries some of that same left over hot water from the geothermal plant and distributes it throughout every building as a source of heat, and there is a second supple for water that is cleaned and similarly distributed throughout the region. And when the lava crossed the road it also covered and broke the main pipes coming from the plant.
That all sounds like just another day in Puna, right? Well, check this out. That happened on the 8th, today is the 11th, three days, and the headline in the local rag right now is; Completed building the road over the lava. As in, they've already put back their infrastructure. Which I find to be such a striking contrast to the way things happen here I thought I'd share it.
From the link above..
The work on the construction of a utility pipe by the Njarðvík pipeline was successful and safe last night. Road construction over the lava field has been completed and about half of the steel pipes that make up the pipeline have been welded together.
About 50 people worked on the project last night and today, new people are taking over.
This is stated in an announcement on HS Orka’s website. It states that all the connection equipment has been constructed successfully and that a part of it has already been installed at the northern end of the lava field.
So yeah, cut to the chase and get on with it already. What a striking difference to how we do things here.