These techniques take advantage of the high temperature and electrical conductivity of molten lava. Estimates of the amount of lava flowing through a tube can be made by measuring the amount of distortion the electrically conductive lava produces in a radio wave passing over its surface coupled with a measure of the speed of the lava.
Hawaiian lava contains much iron and can form magnetic minerals.
These crystals can make lava quite magnetic when it cools below 1,020 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, we can also study active lava tubes by measuring the variation in magnetic fields over them. Long after tubes are abandoned by molten lava, they take on a different importance. For ancestral Hawaiians, lava tubes were a source of fresh water. They also made excellent shelters and pathways for the living, and secure repositories for the dead.