Such physical exposure was last made by a team comprising of different scientists and students from the University at Buffalo last year, from the active volcano of Litli-Hrútur in Iceland. They wore protective aluminized suits and went close to the lava flow to even introduce what is known as a penetrometer, an instrument that determines the flow’s consistency of the lava. In an interview, volcanologist Stephan Kolzenburg said the sounds like the phenomenon produced was like “a bulldozer of broken glass” headed his way.
It was crucial for improving concerns about the analysis of lava flow. Lava can be quite viscous, or thick. Magma with high viscosity is thick and cannot flow easily hence comes with a sticky consistency, on the other hand, low viscosity lava flows like a river of fire. Whittington a volcanologist not involved in the study noted that while lava is hot it is moderately fluid but as it cools it becomes exceedingly sticky.
Evaluating lava viscosity has always been a challenge since active volcanoes offer difficulties and risks in the efforts. Many experiments occur in laboratories where the scientists mimic lava conditions. That is why many properties of the recreated lava are lost, and these lab settings cannot be similar to a natural environment because they cannot contain the gases.
To avoid such limitations, the Buffalo team was forced to come up with a handheld penetrometer that would facilitate the estimation of the viscosity of the lava at the scene. It appears to be a long something similar to a weed whacker, and measures how much pressure it takes to push the device into the hot lava and how long it takes to get down to a certain level. This data will indicate the viscosity of the lave. The penetrometer was also intended for a great length that will give the user a fair distance from the point of penetration and is constructed with hardware that will not melt.
The type of lava ranges from both fluid and sticky lava as they recorded viscosity values of the lava ranging from 300P to 34000P with the temperature of the lava being between 2098F to 2129F and 1148C to 1165C.
Observing the set purpose of the new penetrometer, Whittington said it was helpful equipment that integrates remote sensing, and lab approaches. Specifically, the simulations give data from the active lava flow, and this data was rather hard to get before. This way, the team of Buffalo intends to cooperate with similar observatories around the world, including the one on La Réunion island, to teach the researchers to apply the penetrometer appropriately. This is an international cooperation program that has the objective of enhancing knowledge on the aspects of lava properties and volcanic occurrence.