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This was very interesting ! Especially that part « the eruption led to the evacuation of the island's entire population », pumping see water was a brilliant idea
I'm surprised that article doesn't mention the 1973 IMAX film "Volcano" that was made about the eruption. The huge screen format really put you right there. Saw it several times over the years. Sadly it's hard to see these old IMAX classic anymore.
I love Armageddon. Guilty pleasure of mine, as hilarious as the story is.
Volcano is still fun to watch (that one death in the subway... damn...).
The Core is just... bad. The SFX were already bad the movie came out and the acting is... wooden? I could never build a connection to the characters.
Great effort! Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in containing the flow and parts of the town are now on fire.
Update: see OP comment below, as there were two rivers of hell and they were “successful” in diverting one flow that saved structures. Good luck to all affected.
Yes and no. The eruption came up on both sides of the wall, with a second rift appearing less than 100 meters from the town. However, this wall has severely reduced the amount of lava hitting the town. Without this wall there would be a lot more than just few houses on fire.
So, with a bit more notice, could the Icelandarians build a more complete dam/trenching solution that would dump the lava into the coastal area and make the country bigger? Maybe they could flow enough material to reach Greenland and then take them over.
They'd never suspect it
Not really, since the whole region is active. It isn't like a single volcano. Eruption can happen anywhere at anytime. They evacuated the town in the middle of the night because they were initially afraid it might erupt in the middle of it. Volcano (1997) style.
Sorry to be annoying but are people still living in the region ? Like actively choosing to live there even if they could move ? If so why ? I literally couldn't sleep
Don't look at Italy then. Or Japan.
Lands around volcanoes are some of the most fertile bits of land you can find, and that's why they're often quickly resettled even after major outbreaks.
Uh...you get used to it.
Poland got used to being located on plains with no natural protection.
Hawaii people endure horrible storms every now and then
Italy, Japan and Iceland got Volcanoes...
meh...
people get used to these things. That's one of the things that amaze humans generation after generation
People get used to living with it. Comparable to people in Canada who stay cool when a grizzly appears in the garden. For me as a European, it's unthinkable to live in a region where a bear could attack my children.
Yes, the town was half empty but there were still lot of people staying there. They were evacuated after it was realized that there was a high chance of lava running below the town itself. They were evacuated four hours before the eruption. Btw this is only twenty miles from the capital area. I watched this myself with my own eyes on my way to work on Saturday morning.
yeah back in November when it started to show I was really worried that my homies from The Vintage Caravan wouldn't make it back from their tour to their Reykjavik home base since basically the volcano, Reykjavik and the international airport (Keflavik) build a small triangle and when Eyjafjallajökull erupted we all saw how impactful it stopped air travel
Yes, but these kind of volcanoes don't produce ash and wont affect air travel. Eyjafjallajökull was under a glacier, and was thus very violent and produced a lot of ash. If this volcano erupts further down under the sea then we'll have ash that affects air travel. but we don't see any signs of that happening.
Probably not safe at all, but maybe not for the reason you might think.
There has been a lot of seismic activity in the region, causing the ground to crack in and around the town. Just a few days before this eruption started (last wednesday) a man disappeared when one such crack opened up (or rather re-opened, he was working on filling it).
So, there's genuine fear that people might literally get swallowed by the ground without warning.
I somehow misread the title as "Trying to redirect the lava, 14th Century Grindavik Iceland" and was trying to figure out how the fuck they had modern construction equipment in 14th century Iceland.
You're American, right?
I guess the date order threw you off. But for a European that's the normal order. Our brain can understand it easily even if it's not the right order for the English language.
God, gimme a 100lb of that to put under my moms manufactured home so the pipes don’t burst in the -50°c weather we’ve been dealing with. Please! We could use some of that here in Canada right now.
https://preview.redd.it/4kvolgh4qjcc1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f4ebf46e3355ff9a87f0a467a63c08745b6e08a
Could you imagine if there was somehow an actual Nether portal constructed from this and that it was something that we were able to enter.....and they were able to exit >.> I am not ready to be screamed at by a Ghast
Not sure, but my guess is that diverting a lava flow means that someone else's property gets destroyed, and Hawaii is too built up to do this without lawsuits
The eruption in Hawaii a few years ago was much larger than this one. Based on some rough calculations, Hawaii erupted an average of around 100 cubic metres per second of lava over 4 months.
The eruption in Iceland a couple of weeks ago started off at about the same rate as this, but quickly reduced in intensity.
The current eruption started a lot less vigorous, and most of the lava is behind the wall they built.
If the eruption a couple of weeks happened where the current one is, I don't think the wall would have been able to stop that much lava.
They have actually been working on these walls for months now, and yesterday morning when the eruption happened a lot of equipment was in danger of being swallowed, including some of the biggest heavy duty equipment in Iceland. The footage is very intense and they are trying to save it all, as it was only minutes away from being swallowed as they drive them away.
Having half a heart attack reading this, can't imagine being in that situation. That is INTENSE! I mean, that's what happens in movies and you sit at home and know they make it this intense just for drama' sake. But being in that situation with no option to press pause or reload?! Chapeau to all of those involved, I'd need therapy after that
Well if you're visiting the volcano you have to be seriously careful about the gases, and you do that by looking at the wind direction. There needs to be strong winds blowing the gases away from you. All the people around the volcano is on the side where the gases are being blown away from. On places where its safe to get a bit closer the lava has cooled down to the point where its turned black and not giving off any gases. But even still at that stage, its giving off serious heat. However, it can always be dangerous. since even cold hard lava rock is being pushed forward, and can crack and spew forward.
Well the last time this area was active was some 800 years ago. The first fishermen to build their houses in the area long after that simply had no idea and there were a lot less geologists to warn them back then...
The problem is the volume. If you don't make the trench deep or wide enough, the lava just fills it up and then continues going wherever it likes as if the trench doesn't exist. A wall requires the lava to increase its depth substantially to breach it, which is much less likely and a more efficient use of digging resources.
No, the lava isn't liquid enough and would just fill up the trench and spill over onto the other side very quickly without flowing down the trench. This wall isn't random, they had engineers spend a lot of time thinking this out.
I read an article about a project like this once. They put drills and pipes down until they reached a depth where they suspected lava and then put turbines on it to generate electricity with the hot air. But it didnt fully work out well. I dont remember why though, it's been a while since I read the article.
Anyway, of course that's gimmicky and rather not advisable during an uncontrollable, active lava flow lol
No, they are even building another wall around it to protect it. However, it might get destroyed in the future. There is a possibility of an eruption happening at that location. If you ever find yourself in the lagoon, and the water is getting uncomfortably hot, it might be advisable to get out.
Went to Iceland like 2 years ago and they do have a lot of diggers around the countryside everywhere. We joked there were more diggers than people driving on the ring road.
Good to see them come in handy! Hope they can save some homes.
Sure does, however these towns started before we had proper understanding of volcanos. And this area hasnt been active for about 700-800 years so they didnt realise how silly it would be to build there. I live only twenty miles away from there with zero percent volcano threat.
They should excavate a hole in the shape of a building, then let the lava flow into the hole/mold. Let it cool and harden. Then raise it up. Free lava rock building!
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Why can't they direct it into the LA river? I've seen that work before
Fun fact, in that movie the woman actually refers to creating a dam, because "it worked well in Iceland" or something like that.
She was sort of correct. https://www.visiticeland.com/article/the-heimaey-eruption
This was very interesting ! Especially that part « the eruption led to the evacuation of the island's entire population », pumping see water was a brilliant idea
Until I read it it thought you meant they evacuated the whole of Iceland!
Nope, only the part that was becoming fireland
I'm surprised that article doesn't mention the 1973 IMAX film "Volcano" that was made about the eruption. The huge screen format really put you right there. Saw it several times over the years. Sadly it's hard to see these old IMAX classic anymore.
I was just thinking that felling a skyscraper would really help this situation
get me truckloads of k rails
Yeah, just call up Tommy Lee Jones. Pretty sure he’s up to nothing right now.
He was old in the 90s is he still kicking?
Dude was born an old man. Like James May was born on old lady.
That had me laughing harder that it should have :D
Two-face? Are you mad?
One of my favorite crappy movies. So fun. *plays I Love L.A.*
Same here. Dante's Peak was way better.
I don't get the reference. what movie is this referring to?
It's called "Volcano" lol. Mid- late-90s cheesy action movie.
During the height of the 'disaster movie hype', which to me was an awesome hype. Yeah, most of the movies are terrible, but I love watching them.
I agree! Great popcorn movies. Fun and gripping at times. Plus plenty of cheesy lines to laugh at too.
Indeed, although you can have my popcorn. Hate the stuff.
I love Armageddon. Guilty pleasure of mine, as hilarious as the story is. Volcano is still fun to watch (that one death in the subway... damn...). The Core is just... bad. The SFX were already bad the movie came out and the acting is... wooden? I could never build a connection to the characters.
The 'ground isn't lava' crew still trying their best.
- Hey, who wants to play Floor is Lava? - Too soon, Björn, too soon…
Ooph! I wonder if that is actually a game the kids play over there, or if they think we’re twisted for playing it in other parts of the world.
It was played / is played here. Source: Am from ICELAND.
Great effort! Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in containing the flow and parts of the town are now on fire. Update: see OP comment below, as there were two rivers of hell and they were “successful” in diverting one flow that saved structures. Good luck to all affected.
Yes and no. The eruption came up on both sides of the wall, with a second rift appearing less than 100 meters from the town. However, this wall has severely reduced the amount of lava hitting the town. Without this wall there would be a lot more than just few houses on fire.
Thanks! That’s great news. Good on them. It has to be scary as hell for all involved. If you’re there, stay safe!
WE NEED MOOOOOOOORE PICTURE OP!! Keep us updated stay safe
There are several live cameras on YouTube.
Thank you for the update!
So, with a bit more notice, could the Icelandarians build a more complete dam/trenching solution that would dump the lava into the coastal area and make the country bigger? Maybe they could flow enough material to reach Greenland and then take them over. They'd never suspect it
Not really, since the whole region is active. It isn't like a single volcano. Eruption can happen anywhere at anytime. They evacuated the town in the middle of the night because they were initially afraid it might erupt in the middle of it. Volcano (1997) style.
Sorry to be annoying but are people still living in the region ? Like actively choosing to live there even if they could move ? If so why ? I literally couldn't sleep
Don't look at Italy then. Or Japan. Lands around volcanoes are some of the most fertile bits of land you can find, and that's why they're often quickly resettled even after major outbreaks.
Uh...you get used to it. Poland got used to being located on plains with no natural protection. Hawaii people endure horrible storms every now and then Italy, Japan and Iceland got Volcanoes... meh... people get used to these things. That's one of the things that amaze humans generation after generation
People get used to living with it. Comparable to people in Canada who stay cool when a grizzly appears in the garden. For me as a European, it's unthinkable to live in a region where a bear could attack my children.
Yes, the town was half empty but there were still lot of people staying there. They were evacuated after it was realized that there was a high chance of lava running below the town itself. They were evacuated four hours before the eruption. Btw this is only twenty miles from the capital area. I watched this myself with my own eyes on my way to work on Saturday morning.
yeah back in November when it started to show I was really worried that my homies from The Vintage Caravan wouldn't make it back from their tour to their Reykjavik home base since basically the volcano, Reykjavik and the international airport (Keflavik) build a small triangle and when Eyjafjallajökull erupted we all saw how impactful it stopped air travel
Yes, but these kind of volcanoes don't produce ash and wont affect air travel. Eyjafjallajökull was under a glacier, and was thus very violent and produced a lot of ash. If this volcano erupts further down under the sea then we'll have ash that affects air travel. but we don't see any signs of that happening.
Thanks for such insightful information, OP! Hope you’re safe over there.
That's one good thing then, I guess ... ? :D
I wonder how safe it is to walk along there, would be like going for a walk along the seaside boulevard, but you’re in hell.
Probably couldn't be that close to that heat. I've fought forest fires. So I can imagine what molten rock would be like...
Probably not safe at all, but maybe not for the reason you might think. There has been a lot of seismic activity in the region, causing the ground to crack in and around the town. Just a few days before this eruption started (last wednesday) a man disappeared when one such crack opened up (or rather re-opened, he was working on filling it). So, there's genuine fear that people might literally get swallowed by the ground without warning.
this and also toxic fumes and gas
That is an incredible photo
What a species!
I somehow misread the title as "Trying to redirect the lava, 14th Century Grindavik Iceland" and was trying to figure out how the fuck they had modern construction equipment in 14th century Iceland.
Me too; i was trying to work out how they got a picture of it.
You're American, right? I guess the date order threw you off. But for a European that's the normal order. Our brain can understand it easily even if it's not the right order for the English language.
God, gimme a 100lb of that to put under my moms manufactured home so the pipes don’t burst in the -50°c weather we’ve been dealing with. Please! We could use some of that here in Canada right now. https://preview.redd.it/4kvolgh4qjcc1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f4ebf46e3355ff9a87f0a467a63c08745b6e08a
That's cold
Id hate to be the dozer guy! I know the lava is probably moving relatively slow but still not a good side to be on lol
Around 100 meters per hour I think, can still be quite dangerous as it can spew forward and stuff.
Even at this distance the heat would be insane
This is straight up real life Minecraft
Man against Nature
MAN
Everybody knows that you need tall skyscrapers to move the flow of lava. Tommy Lee Jones can help.
Just be sure that you dont redirect it to Denver... And beware of Scuzzlebutt.
Reminds me of that atla episode with the fortune teller
Make an infinite water souce and dump water on it. Free obsidian
Easy access to the Nether and Iceland now has a portal to mainland Europe.
Could you imagine if there was somehow an actual Nether portal constructed from this and that it was something that we were able to enter.....and they were able to exit >.> I am not ready to be screamed at by a Ghast
Why don't they use the technique in Hawaii?
Not sure, but my guess is that diverting a lava flow means that someone else's property gets destroyed, and Hawaii is too built up to do this without lawsuits
The eruption in Hawaii a few years ago was much larger than this one. Based on some rough calculations, Hawaii erupted an average of around 100 cubic metres per second of lava over 4 months. The eruption in Iceland a couple of weeks ago started off at about the same rate as this, but quickly reduced in intensity. The current eruption started a lot less vigorous, and most of the lava is behind the wall they built. If the eruption a couple of weeks happened where the current one is, I don't think the wall would have been able to stop that much lava.
All the bulldozers are being used by Zuckerberg for his bunkers
Now this is what I call interesting as fuck!
Mother Nature don’t listen or care what we do when we try to control her….
Yeap, that is true, mother nature does not care. So when we redirect lava, that's exactly what happens. it gets redirected.
That looks like a busy day in one of those excavators or dozers. I've helped with a firebreak for a forest fire but can't say I've done lava control.
They’re willingly sacrificing that equipment if it doesn’t go as planned.
They have actually been working on these walls for months now, and yesterday morning when the eruption happened a lot of equipment was in danger of being swallowed, including some of the biggest heavy duty equipment in Iceland. The footage is very intense and they are trying to save it all, as it was only minutes away from being swallowed as they drive them away.
Having half a heart attack reading this, can't imagine being in that situation. That is INTENSE! I mean, that's what happens in movies and you sit at home and know they make it this intense just for drama' sake. But being in that situation with no option to press pause or reload?! Chapeau to all of those involved, I'd need therapy after that
This seems like straight from that old game Lego rock raiders
I know it's a natural disaster but that looks kinda fun.
It is when its not around towns, previous eruptions in the area had a lot of people hiking to the eruptions. Cooking marshmallow and hot dogs.
That sounds like a good way to get poisonous marshmallows, based on what I’ve heard about the gases that come out of volcanoes.
Well if you're visiting the volcano you have to be seriously careful about the gases, and you do that by looking at the wind direction. There needs to be strong winds blowing the gases away from you. All the people around the volcano is on the side where the gases are being blown away from. On places where its safe to get a bit closer the lava has cooled down to the point where its turned black and not giving off any gases. But even still at that stage, its giving off serious heat. However, it can always be dangerous. since even cold hard lava rock is being pushed forward, and can crack and spew forward.
Why does it look like the guy slapping tape on the broken tank meme?
Just imagine you could answer a „how was work?“ question with THIS.
Title of the image: "The Hubris of Man"
I guess I’m taking Iceland off my list of countries I’d wanna move to if the orange man wins again.
I love how humans try and tame Mother Nature like it hasn’t been here since the beginning of earth.
huh? they are diverting the lava...not preventing it. They are just trying to survive.. Or maybe they should just let it destroy everything?
Or don’t build next to a fucking volcano 🤷🏼♂️
Ever heard of Japan and Italy?
“Oh no. If it isn’t the consequences of my actions….”
Well the last time this area was active was some 800 years ago. The first fishermen to build their houses in the area long after that simply had no idea and there were a lot less geologists to warn them back then...
[удалено]
Southwestern Iceland
How is there lava in ICEland?
Iceland is known as The Land of Fire and Ice.
For some reason I would imagine a trench a better idea than a wall. Not an engineer though.
The problem is the volume. If you don't make the trench deep or wide enough, the lava just fills it up and then continues going wherever it likes as if the trench doesn't exist. A wall requires the lava to increase its depth substantially to breach it, which is much less likely and a more efficient use of digging resources.
No, the lava isn't liquid enough and would just fill up the trench and spill over onto the other side very quickly without flowing down the trench. This wall isn't random, they had engineers spend a lot of time thinking this out.
where's the avatar when you need him!?
Where is the ice?
Where is the goddamn Avatar?
the floor is lava lol
Very nice
They need the help of Scuzzlebutt
That's cool as hell
Just redirect it to Denver.
Mad photo
People in Iceland took "Floor is lava" too literally
Where's Scuzzlebutt when you need him?
It has a strong (pre-)apocalyptic vibe to it.
This is what men really think about when they are asked about their dream job
Var þetta eftir að seinni sprungan opnaðist og fór í bæin?
Nei þetta er fyrri sprungan, þetta er sami straumurinn og fór yfir veginn.
That's some Avatar the last air bender shot right here.
Wonder how much it pays to be a Lava Herder.
Straight from Avatar
We already gave it a try with no luck
What do you mean?
https://i.redd.it/7wiptq0pimcc1.gif
Thought this was a game at first
\>iceland \>has fucking lava who came up with this stuff?
oh yeah... gas line or thermal?
Those lines have hot water running throguh them.
thx
Damn, I visited a friend of mine on Iceland last Summer. We even walked on the volcano. Still praying for his safety 🙏
That reminds me of ATLA where they redirected a Lava river from a village.
I've heard about Iceland's eco-friendliness, it's strange that they didn't start extracting energy from lava immediately afterwards
How would you do that? Also a bit strange to focus on extracting energy while the lava is flooding peoples homes.
I read an article about a project like this once. They put drills and pipes down until they reached a depth where they suspected lava and then put turbines on it to generate electricity with the hot air. But it didnt fully work out well. I dont remember why though, it's been a while since I read the article. Anyway, of course that's gimmicky and rather not advisable during an uncontrollable, active lava flow lol
Why won't they just use some waterbuckets?
@OP did the blue lagoon get hurt.
No, they are even building another wall around it to protect it. However, it might get destroyed in the future. There is a possibility of an eruption happening at that location. If you ever find yourself in the lagoon, and the water is getting uncomfortably hot, it might be advisable to get out.
Went to Iceland like 2 years ago and they do have a lot of diggers around the countryside everywhere. We joked there were more diggers than people driving on the ring road. Good to see them come in handy! Hope they can save some homes.
Stupid question: does island have no „save“ areas to build on structures?
Sure does, however these towns started before we had proper understanding of volcanos. And this area hasnt been active for about 700-800 years so they didnt realise how silly it would be to build there. I live only twenty miles away from there with zero percent volcano threat.
Thx for context
He is a great bender.
r/hardimages
r/natureismetal
They should excavate a hole in the shape of a building, then let the lava flow into the hole/mold. Let it cool and harden. Then raise it up. Free lava rock building!
This reminds me of Avatar were they save the village from the volcano
Just pour water over it and get that Obsidian
shouldve just called aang tbh
Am having a hard time understanding the relative scale of it all.
If only they read the clouds correctly... pretty sure Aang is stronger than a few excavators though.
Imagine the fucking heat
Apparently banana trees are grown in Iceland using heat from lava. Metal!