Cooling the Lava

Eponymous

Giving one's name to a place tribe etc.

Magmatic

Relating to magma

Corpulent

Large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat

Bathygraphy

Exploration of the sea with sonic devices

Tephra

Volcanic debris

Basalt

A dark, fine-grained volcanic rock

Nuée ardente

Hot volcanic gasses

Fathometer

A sonic depth finder

Nyjahraun

Icelandic for new lava

Hundradsmannahellir

Cave where 100 men hid from the turks

Blatindur

Blue summit

Lyngfellsdalur

Mountain valley of the lingonberries

Horgseyri

Temple of Old Gods

In 874

Icelandic settlement

In 930

Icelandic parliament founded

In 1000

Debate in Iceland that resulted in the adoption of Christianity. Lava flowing during the debate was taken as a sign of angry Gods

Pyroclastic

relating to, consisting of, or denoting fragments of rock erupted by a volcano.

Cryptocrystalline

Having a crystalline structure visible only when magnified

Kipuka

An area older land ranging in size from a few square feet to several square-miles surrounded by later lava flows

Pahoehoe

The general texture of newly solidified lava that is unpredictable and prone to shattering if one steps in a certain spot, dropping 6 inches or a foot

Sky-light

Holes in the roof of Pahoehoe that expose the orange lava

Theodolite

A surveying instrument with a rotating telescope for measuring horizontal and vertical angles

Quayside

The area along the banks

Auriferous

Rocks containing gold

Hubris

Excessive confidence

What was the omen surrounding the 1973 lava flow? Reality?

The son of a bishop would come to Vestmannaeyjar as a minister and there would be an eruption upon arrival. In reality, Karl Sigurbjornsson, son of the bishop Sigurbjorn Einarsson, came on 1973, which was also the year that Vilpa filled up and there were 13 moons.

March 1984 shipwreck

Three men in a steel fisher get their net spreaders caught in rough lava on the ocean floor, sinks and flips. One man died instantly as they tried to swim back; Gudlaugur Fridthordsson and Hjortur Rossman Jonsson swim back but Hjortur stops responding. Gudlaugur talks with the birds as he continues to swim, and gets trapped in a niche, then has to swim away and back until he climbs up onto the apalhraun. He somehow gets to a house 8 hours after capsizing.

What allowed Gudlaugur Fridthordsson to survive the freezing water?

His fat insulated him like a seal's would.

Civil Defense Council

Founded in 1962 for the potential of nuclear war with its base as the National Emergency Operation Center in Reykjavic around the bomb shelters, but then expanded to include national disasters after the volcanic island of Vestmannaeyjar was birthed.

Pompeii

Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24, '79, in which there was no flowing lava, but tephra, fine ash and nuées ardentes, that killed all citizens and perserved everything.

Heimaey

Incredibly important Icelandic fishing port which produces a massive amount of the national income; largest island of Vestmannaeyjar; no native trees

Surtsey

A collection of islands (like Vestmannaeyjar) named after a nordic giant

Katla

An ice-covered volcano under Myrdasjokull, a 270 square mile ice field, fhat erupte twice a century and in the process creates and expels a massive flood of water that decimates nearby villages.

Hekla

A stratovolcano, one of the mouths of Hell

Helgafell

The Holy Mountain, green slope, ashy rim, circular bronze tablet placed in 1952 with an arrow that swings toward other volcanoes

Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson

Former director of the National Research Council of Iceland, resident of Heimaey near the aquarium, and in 1950s the creator of a proton-processing magnometer, who had the idea to cool the lava based on observations of the ocean interacting with the lava. He appears like a "stretched George Washington"

Sigurdur Jonsson

Harbor manager's deputy and Hjalparsveit Skata leader who was a hardware store clerk during the time of the eruption. He helped guide bulldozers to flatten the apalhraun. Somewhat heavy, partly bald, with a mustache and gold-framed glasses.

Magnus Magnusson

Postal director and former mayor of Vestmannaeyjar. Very well travelled; learned Scottish English from studying in Aberdeen, was Mighty Magnus of the BBC, and was even a member of Southland parliament for a few years. He is widely knowledgeable about Vestmannaeyjar's history, especially fatalities and catastrophes. He had to move out of his house, even after remaining with it when tephra was suffocating it, because of poisonous volcanic gas.

Pall Zophoniasson

Town engineer and member of battle meetings. Felt the last quake 15 min before the eruption with his wife Asa Hermansdottir; thinking a new system of islands was erupting, he had gone in a plane to photograph it, but instead found a house consumed by lava.

Gudmundur Karlsson

Managing director of Fiskidjan, the island's largest fish factory.

Lynn Costello

22 year old Pennsylvanian journalist who worked as a sound technician for Osvaldur Knudsen and his son Villi

How did Lynn, Villi, and Osvaldur stay to record the volcanic activity?

They used their own transportation, hid in houses, sometimes commuted from the mainland, and pretended to be newscasters to get food from the army's mess hall.

Villi Osvaldursson

28-year old volcanologist who along with Lynn Costello and his father, documented the Heimaeyan eruption. He now has the Volcano Show at his house, where he broadcasts the latest news in national volcanology

What did Villi say was the safest way to traverse a volcano?

"Have another person go with you and he goes first."

Thorleifur Einarsson

Geologist and attendant of battle meetings

Valdimar Jonsson

Professor of Thermal Fluids at Imperial College and Penn State who initially laughed at the thought of cooling lava that grew up in Hnifsdalur with his carpenter father. Large-boned lumberjack with deep blue eyes and dark hair. Had to leave eruption for periods of professor stuff.

Sveinn "Patton" Eiriksson

Icelandic Fire chief of the American base at Keflavik that wore a military uniform but didn't have any sign of rank because he broke rank too many times to have a reflective uniform and had a great reputation with the people. He was a slender man of mild aspect, vaguely professorial, commanding, and very aggressive that worked according to his own system and frequently defied the Civil Defense System's methods, like to get aluminum pipes. His idea was to put iron in the windows.

Haroun Tazieff

World-renowned French volcanologist

Einar Einarsson

Farmer with university-installed seismometer on his land that allowed him to sense on January 22nd that there were crazy earthquakes, which he called Reykjavik about

Sigurdur Thorarinsson

Volcanologist who said that the Heimaeyan community had a 50-50 chance and the eruption could last 3 years

Sigurdur Steinthorsson

Petrologist who studied the chemistry of lava in the University of Iceland. Discovered that most of the remains of the lava in Heimaey was hawaiite, which confirmed that the eruption was a common Hawaiian eruption in which pressure drops shortly and the flow consequently ceases. He smoked cigars as he drove through the island because if they went out, he knew there were deadly CO2 emissions.

Helga Thorarinsdottir

Sigurdur Steinthorsson's wife who shoveled tephra off of unstable and shifting roofs

Dora Gudlaugsdottir

A 39yo mother and wife to owner of a fish factory in Heimaey who with her five children had to flee; returned after half a year and now owns a bookstore. She was angry at the eruption and how it ruined the beauty of a Heimaey, and likened it to Pompeii. She was tall, slender, given to denim slacks and white pullovers, had short tousled hair and reading glasses, and seemed generous and reflective.

Gudjon Olaffson

Office manager of a fish factory in Heimaey who drew depictions from memory of the first four houses destroyed by lava

Jon Thorsteinsson

Lived in Kirkjubaer in the 17th century, killed by Morrocan Pirates known as Turks. His monument was removed during the eruption but later restored to the exact same spot, but now standing 300 feet taller because of basalt deposits.

Fleet Admiral Gaius Plinius Secundus "Pliny the Elder"

During the pompeiian eruption, he saved lives via quadriremes and constructed the earliest descriptions of volcanology based on his sight of Pompeii in his 37-Book series, Naturalis Historia. He later died of myocardial excitement. "Fortune favors the brave!"

Quadriremes

A galley with four banks of oars

Christina Heliker

Volcanologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory who worked in the Pacific in 1980 when Mt. St. Helens exploded

Rear Admiral Harry Hess USNR

Wrote "History of Ocean Basins" about plate tectonics and dragged a Fathometer into the Lingayen Gulf of the Iwo Jima invasion

Ingi Thor Sigurjonsson

Heimaeyan who was born in Hafnarjordur and raised in Texas who says that the lava improved the harbor by increasing its productivity. Owns the oldest trawler in Iceland.

Date of eruption

January 23, 1973

Describe the initial eruption

A massive lava curtail over 500ft tall above Heimaey of Vestmannaeyjar that began in the fields near Kirkjubaer farm and consumed these homes in order:
1. Loftur Jonsson and Augustina Tordardottir's home in Vilborgarstadir
2. Thorsteinn Jonsson, widow Elinborh and daughter Anna's properties in Laufas
3. Landaug (?)
4. Hotel Berg in Tunga

What volcano erupted on January 23, 1973?

Eldfell

How many homes were consumed by Eldfell's eruption?

350

How did people flee?

Evacuated by boat to Reykjavik where they had to adjust to a lower living standard, while animals were sent by air

First attempt to cool lava

Thorbjorn, fireman, and local people attempted a small effort to cool the lava, which was captured by a camera on Storaklif and broadcasted all through Iceland.

Second attempt to cool lava

Thorbjorn decides to pump seawater into the lava, which makes the lava edge become very steep but not stationary. He decided that 1 cubic meter of water would change 7/10 of one cubic meter of lava into hard rock.

Hearing pele

The sound of buildings shaking before the eruption

What was the attitude of the people toward the Vestmanaeyjar lava front?

The people, many volunteers, treated it like a war and themselves as soldiers (and later veterans). Meetings to discuss plans on how to handle the lava were called "Battle Meetings".

How did tephra affect the homes?

Falling ash and volcanic bombs posed a massive threat to people, but also collapsed many buildings and devastated areas. It had to be shovelled from roofs and roads and doorways. Later, the excess tephra was used to pave roads and expand airport runways. By the time of Haroun Tazieff's assessment, 3 million cubic tons of tephra were on the town.

Haroun Tazieff's assessment, as dictated to Thorbjorn

The winds should have changed to pull the ash back to sea, but they did not. At the time, 3 million cubic tons of tephra on the town, 15x that amount of lava, and 22000 pound lava bomb landed 1600 feet from the crater

What happened on the 6th day?

The wind changed and restored the ashfall to the ocean, leaving a weird apocalyptic ash snow over the town

Why did Tazieff fear another eruption was coming?

He saw "a catfish scream".

11th day

Ash and winter train killed the visibility, lava bombs, lava flowing north and east extended 2000+ feet

13th day

Fresh flow moved on a vector toward the south harbor wall, along the shoreline, storm and steam, explosions that shook the town

14th day

Eruption increases, sprays of lava reach 1000 feet, town entirely pitch black, 5 million tons of lava moving toward harbor wall, ships sent away

February 5th

Black Monday; people assumed the battle was over and lost

What surprising development occured in the middle of February?

The pumps for water came, as did Valdimar Jonsson, who said progress could be made if they used at least 10x as much water; consequently, they increased to pumping thirteen hundred thousand gallons a day

Vestmann Island Disease

"If certain people stayed long enough, they found themselves unmissable. They could not leave the place; they felt somehow that nothing would run if they left."
Contracted by Patto.

What happened on February 18th?

A small molten ring develops near the bottom of the north side of Edelfal 700ft above sea level. Lava erupted and Patton's men had to retreat because the north side came loose, destroying 30 houses.

What happened as a result of the collapse of the north side on February 18th?

The breakwater near the volcano on the south harbor wall seemed to be the prime passageway for the newly escaped lava, heading right toward the harbor; the Civil Defense ordered all boats to leave, and the pumpers began their work. Thorbjorn, Thorleifur, and Patton called for Sandey and Lodsinn to pump, which they did for four days until a standoff was reached, critically close to the harbor.

Sandey

A pumping-system used to collect seashells which, when rigged, could expel 6000 gallons of water a minute

What became of the north side?

Once detached, it became a volcanic glacier that floated in the sea, called Flakkarinn the Wanderer, which people climbed on and followed.

Complications with Flakkarinn

It began to head toward the harbor.

How did people respond to Flakkarinn's new path?

All the available pumps from the Civil Defense and even the Americans in Keflavik came together with the goal of selecting an area of lava that would be in Flakkarinn's path, cool it enough to get below the surface rind, and increase the columnar cracks to stop Flakkarinn upon collision.

Did the attempts to stop Flakkarinn work?

Yes! Flakkarinn hit the cooled section, a baseball-field-sized basalt formation, then broke apart and stopped moving.

City Flow

A new lava tongue breaks out west by northwest 2 months after the first eruption and heads straight toward town. In the first day, it consumed 18 acres and 15 houses and forced the pumping crews to retreat. On the same day as the historic Fire Mass, it consumed 50 acres and 200 buildings. It approached Gudmundur Karlsson's fish factory, came through the 2nd floor windows, and stopped once he pumped water from the roof. At the end of march, it reached Skansinn.

What did the U.S. and other allies debate as an approach to stopping the volcano?

Bombing strategically to send the lava into the sea. However, Sterling Colgate says it would be a bad idea, because the runaway mixing process might occur in a 3 or 4 megaton stage like what happened in Krakatoa. The U.S. proposed this strategy based on their bombing of a lava tube in Mauna Loa.

How did Sicilian citizens deal with lava before and after Iceland's treatment of their volcano?

Sicilians in 1669 tried to divert a lava flow with axes to keep it from hitting the city, but other citizens rioted, which resulted in a new "no-interference" rule. Iceland made them rethink it, and in 1983, they successfully diverted lava from a ski resort.

What is the general Hawaiian attitude toward lava flows and volcanism?

In general, Hawaiians passively "combat" eruptions through offerings to the goddess Pele of flowers, tobacco, and gin at the feet of volcanos. In fact, many believe in the sentiment of Thomas L Wright (there is no alternative except letting nature take its course) including the Hawaiian County Civil Defense Agency, which says that firefighters should not impede lava flow, only byproduct fires.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Located 11k up the north slope of Mauna Loa, protected by a giant barrier shaped like the greek Lambda

Describe the interaction between Harry Kim from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency and Patton from Iceland

Harry Kim looked for inspiration on how to prevent volcanic damage, which Patton supplied none: "Iceland didn't do much." Harry Kim said that measures taken against volcanoes must be economically logical compared to the damage, and that if Pele could not be stopped by the Pacific Ocean, how dare we try with pumps?

Describe the 1984 incident in Hawaii

in 1984, a lava river emerged from Mauna Loa for three weeks, and from Kilauea, lava from the mountain flank survived for years. The Kilauea lava consumed villages, subdivisions, and roads, and progressed into the oceans; the Royal Gardens and family home were lost but later rebuilt in the same spot above the basalt. One house was spared, but surrounded. Many marijuaneries were devastated.

Why did McPhee have to sign a waiver at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory?

Kilauea had not been silent for more than 15 minutes since 1983

Robert Hanatan

A native of Hawaii and therefore a "birthright volcanologist" who assists Heliker at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Camp 8

At the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Camp 8 is one of 7 (some so new trees are still on fire) and is a platform on a non-solid kipuka with live lava beneath the surface. For a year +, lava had been emerging in a lava lake larger than the Lincoln Tunnel. In the past, it was a forest.

What happened at Camp 8?

Hanatani used reflectors to assess expansion, Heliker used a theodolite, and McPhee steps incorrectly and hurts his leg.
Hanatani dips a hammer into the lava and retrieves it, allowing it to cool; McPhee picked it up, dipped it again, and discovered it had the texture of "elastic egg-white chocolate mousse". He collected a rock and also peed into the lava.

Lava lake

Liquid lava with a detached cover of what appears to be gray elephant hide, constantly shifting, made of scum, that rips apart from one side to another on a red lava wave, imitating plate tectonics.

How does the lava lake relate to theories about the Archean Eon?

The movement of the surface-scum, imitating plate tectonics, displays what is theorized about continents before settling.

How is lava in Hawaii different from lava in Heimaey?

Hawaiian lava is rarely explosive and claims few lives.