Was that a D11 dozer ripping lava on the island, shown on national news last night [may 31,2018]?
It would take a bold dozer operator to get busy on newly solidified lava, for sure, considering that the eruption is still in progress, with local precipitation including occasional showers of red-hot rocks. Someone must be raking in some serious danger pay on that job.
I was wondering why they couldn't line up about 20 d11's and build a berm high enough to turn that lava toward the ocean? looks like gravity would do the rest..
you mean something like this...
I remember watching the movie and thinking hooky, now its just funny
Does anyone think squirting a little water on that lava would have any real effect? I mean where do you think those islands came from in the first place? If the lava was able to push up from under the ocean and form all those islands do you think a couple thousand gallons of water is going to do anything other than steam the guys holding the hoses like a bunch of lobsters?
Kinda like farting against thunder I Imagine Seen the aerial footage of the lava glowing below the sea water.
I saw the dozer it was at least a 9, not long enough of a shot to really know. I wondered how cool the inside of the lava was, nothing like raising your ripper and half the shank is melted off or fall thru the crust into a lava river.
I'm thinking it is like dry ice submerged in a tub of water. One might think that the dry ice would cause the water to freeze solid but it doesn't. The water causes the gas to come off the dry ice so fast it more or less does not allow the water to get cold. You can actually touch the dry ice under water and feel the pressure coming boiling off it. Just don't try picking up and out of the water. I have a feeling that the lava causes a layer of steam to form to keep the water separate from the majority of the water forming a protective bubble around it. Might not be the most scientific way to word it but might get the idea out.
They are pushing a “new” road across an old lava bed for a second access to the area. There are some videos on u-tube. Cam
Water has been used in the past and was even successful once in Iceland. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29136747 When I was at a port stop in Sicily a local told me of it being tried on Mt Aetna. What I see it comes down in Hawaii is money. The neighborhood it is tearing up are blue collar and low income people. So what do you think the response would be if there was a swath of multimillion dollar homes in the way?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect
I figured some one would have a better explanation of what I was trying to put in words.
And like it says in the article the success may have been in part from the slow speed of the lava or simply it was going to be stopping anyhow! I could go do a dance in the back yard to get it to stop snowing and if I picked the right time to do it I would look like I was a success! Timing is everything!
Link to new road for evacuation route across lava in Hawaii Cam
My point is that there is not enough wealth there to justify trying to save anyone's property. If two dozen multimillion dollar properties were in the path I wonder how much the state and feds would work to save them? A few big pumps and the ocean is not far away. Combine that with some dozers pushing spoil and who knows? It just a matter of money and will.
I live about 14 miles from the flow. The amount of lava coming out would overwhelm a berm. The fountain is shooting 250ft in the air and the volume is high. They tried in the 1950s in the same spot to build a massive berm with all the sugar plantation dozers. They spent months pushing up a berm. It worked for a bit then got overwhelmed. They built most of the chain of craters road during the last eruptions a few years back. Thay had a few d11rs and a few komatsu 375s 475s and even a d9h. About 15 years earlier they tried to work on the road and were melting ripped shanks. They would pull them up twisted backwards.
Poking around on youtube, I found this video where the reports says they are working 1-2 year old lava flows.
I like all the new paint on those machines.