10-07-2007, 09:22 AM
Google page of links on diverting lava the world over, including Hawaii:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=HPIB,HPIB:2005-31,HPIB:en&q=diverting+lava
This 1987 article discusses attempts at diverting lava on the Big Isle: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D8133AF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Excerpt: “How to deal with volcanic hazards was the subject of the final sessions of the conference held in Hilo the week ended Jan. 25. It was organized to mark the 75th anniversary of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, on the rim of the Kilauea crater on the slope of the Mauna Loa volcano. Efforts to Divert Lava Flows
One of the topics discussed involved efforts to divert lava flows with bombs, levees and sprays of water.” –Though the article does not go in depth on this.
A good Star Bulletin article from August 23, 2007 giving an overview of concerns about the new direction the lava flow has taken: http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/23/news/story02.html
Excerpt: “Even if an extended flow missed every home and business, it could still cut Highway 130, the sole road in and out of the area.
That is the kind of thinking that Kim prefers not to emphasize. He said yesterday he would not even discuss Highway 130 being cut.”
Volcano Tamers (1998): http://www.platetectonics.com/article.asp?a=15
Excerpt: “Diverting Lava Flow” … “When volcanoes erupt, Lockwood is often nearby. The former U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologist now makes a career of offering governments advice on keeping lava at bay. "Three methods have been used to attempt lava diversion," Lockwood says. Detonating explosives can disrupt lava flow. Construction of earthen walls can also deflect lava. And spraying large volumes of water can cool an advancing flow.
Experiments with aerial delivery of explosives date to a 1935 bombing mission in Hawaii organized by then-Lt. Col. George S. Patton Jr. The air-strike, by 1920s-era Keystone B-3 and B-4 bombers, was an attempt to disrupt a lava flow from Mauna Loa that was threatening the city of Hilo. Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, apparently didn' t notice. Nor did she blink in 1942 when a second operation was mounted. … The lava-diversion barrier Lockwood designed to protect the USGS Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii is based on similar design principles. It has yet to be tested.”
… Or maybe all us Punaweb citizens can take things into our own hands like these brave men:
“The first known attempt to divert a lava flow was made in Sicily in
1669, when a large flow from Etna was advancing towards the city of Cata-
nia. Several dozen men from the city covered themselves with wet cowhides
as a protection against the heat, and with iron bars managed to open a
breach in the side of the flow, through which the lava flowed out in an-
other direction. Unfortunately
this new flow threatened the village of
Paterno, whose inhabitants sallied forth in large numbers to put a stop to
the operation. The men of Catania were forced to abandon their efforts,
the breach soon clogged up and the main flow continued on into the city.”
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=HPIB,HPIB:2005-31,HPIB:en&q=diverting+lava
This 1987 article discusses attempts at diverting lava on the Big Isle: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D8133AF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Excerpt: “How to deal with volcanic hazards was the subject of the final sessions of the conference held in Hilo the week ended Jan. 25. It was organized to mark the 75th anniversary of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, on the rim of the Kilauea crater on the slope of the Mauna Loa volcano. Efforts to Divert Lava Flows
One of the topics discussed involved efforts to divert lava flows with bombs, levees and sprays of water.” –Though the article does not go in depth on this.
A good Star Bulletin article from August 23, 2007 giving an overview of concerns about the new direction the lava flow has taken: http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/23/news/story02.html
Excerpt: “Even if an extended flow missed every home and business, it could still cut Highway 130, the sole road in and out of the area.
That is the kind of thinking that Kim prefers not to emphasize. He said yesterday he would not even discuss Highway 130 being cut.”
Volcano Tamers (1998): http://www.platetectonics.com/article.asp?a=15
Excerpt: “Diverting Lava Flow” … “When volcanoes erupt, Lockwood is often nearby. The former U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologist now makes a career of offering governments advice on keeping lava at bay. "Three methods have been used to attempt lava diversion," Lockwood says. Detonating explosives can disrupt lava flow. Construction of earthen walls can also deflect lava. And spraying large volumes of water can cool an advancing flow.
Experiments with aerial delivery of explosives date to a 1935 bombing mission in Hawaii organized by then-Lt. Col. George S. Patton Jr. The air-strike, by 1920s-era Keystone B-3 and B-4 bombers, was an attempt to disrupt a lava flow from Mauna Loa that was threatening the city of Hilo. Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, apparently didn' t notice. Nor did she blink in 1942 when a second operation was mounted. … The lava-diversion barrier Lockwood designed to protect the USGS Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii is based on similar design principles. It has yet to be tested.”
… Or maybe all us Punaweb citizens can take things into our own hands like these brave men:
“The first known attempt to divert a lava flow was made in Sicily in
1669, when a large flow from Etna was advancing towards the city of Cata-
nia. Several dozen men from the city covered themselves with wet cowhides
as a protection against the heat, and with iron bars managed to open a
breach in the side of the flow, through which the lava flowed out in an-
other direction. Unfortunately
this new flow threatened the village of
Paterno, whose inhabitants sallied forth in large numbers to put a stop to
the operation. The men of Catania were forced to abandon their efforts,
the breach soon clogged up and the main flow continued on into the city.”