Cooling the Lava Summary and Analysis

Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson is a native of Iceland. His idea to stop lava flows by cooling is not tried before. He believes it can be done. Thorbjorn is a physicist. Since his father is Sigurgeir, he is named Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson. Many are skeptical of cooling lava in Iceland. McPhee flashes back to February 1973, when a small town and harbor on an offshore island is threatened by red-hot lava. Residents spray the moving lava front with fire hoses. Their televised efforts produce clouds of steam. The Civil Defense Council in the Reykjavik National Emergency Center watches Thorbjorn's experiment with interest.

The Center is established in 1962 as a command-post bomb shelter for nuclear war. Within a year the Council worries about the effects of lava flows on the Atlantic Ocean and the islands of Vestmannaeyjar. The Council broadens its charter...