The eruption of Krakatoa in August 1883 was one of the most deadly volcanic eruptions in history. It is estimated that more than 36,000 people died. Many died as a result of thermal injury from the blasts and many more were victims of the tsunamis that followed the collapse of the volcano into the sea below.
The island of Krakatau (Krakatoa) is in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.It is located on a called Arc that is about 5km wide and 9km long.Volcanic activity is due to the Indo-Australian tectonic plate as it moves northward towards mainland Asia.
In May 1883, the captain of the Elizabeth, a German warship, reported seeing clouds of ash above Krakatau and for the next two months, commercial vessels and chartered sightseeing boats reported hearing thundering noises and seeing incandescent clouds. People on nearby islands held festivals celebrating the natural fireworks that lit the night sky.
At 12:53 p.m. on Sunday the 26th of August, the initial blast of the eruption sent a cloud of gas and debris an estimated 15 miles (24 km) into the air above Perboewatan. It is thought that debris from the earlier eruptive activity must have plugged the neck of the cone, allowing pressure to build up in the magma chamber. On the morning of the 27th, four tremendous explosions, heard as far away as Perth, Australia, some 2,800 miles (4,500 km) distant, sunk both Perboewatan and Danan into the caldera below the sea.
The eruption has been assigned a rating of 6 on the Volcanic Explosion Index and is estimated to have had the explosive force of 200 megatons of TNT. (For purposes of comparison, the bomb that devastated Hiroshima had a force of 20 kilotons. The Mount St. Helens explosion of 1980 had a Volcanic Eruption Index of 5.)
The explosions hurled an estimated 11 cubic miles (45 cubic km) of debris into the atmosphere darkening skies up to 275 miles (442 km) from the volcano. In the immediate vicinity, the dawn did not return for three days. Barographs around the globe documented that the shock waves in the atmosphere circled the planet at least seven times. Within 13 days, a layer gases began to filter the amount of sunlight able to reach Earth. The atmospheric effects made for spectacular sunsets all over Europe and the United States and average global temperatures were up to 1.2 degrees cooler for the next five years.
The island of Krakatau (Krakatoa) is in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.It is located on a called Arc that is about 5km wide and 9km long.Volcanic activity is due to the Indo-Australian tectonic plate as it moves northward towards mainland Asia.
In May 1883, the captain of the Elizabeth, a German warship, reported seeing clouds of ash above Krakatau and for the next two months, commercial vessels and chartered sightseeing boats reported hearing thundering noises and seeing incandescent clouds. People on nearby islands held festivals celebrating the natural fireworks that lit the night sky.
At 12:53 p.m. on Sunday the 26th of August, the initial blast of the eruption sent a cloud of gas and debris an estimated 15 miles (24 km) into the air above Perboewatan. It is thought that debris from the earlier eruptive activity must have plugged the neck of the cone, allowing pressure to build up in the magma chamber. On the morning of the 27th, four tremendous explosions, heard as far away as Perth, Australia, some 2,800 miles (4,500 km) distant, sunk both Perboewatan and Danan into the caldera below the sea.
The eruption has been assigned a rating of 6 on the Volcanic Explosion Index and is estimated to have had the explosive force of 200 megatons of TNT. (For purposes of comparison, the bomb that devastated Hiroshima had a force of 20 kilotons. The Mount St. Helens explosion of 1980 had a Volcanic Eruption Index of 5.)
The explosions hurled an estimated 11 cubic miles (45 cubic km) of debris into the atmosphere darkening skies up to 275 miles (442 km) from the volcano. In the immediate vicinity, the dawn did not return for three days. Barographs around the globe documented that the shock waves in the atmosphere circled the planet at least seven times. Within 13 days, a layer gases began to filter the amount of sunlight able to reach Earth. The atmospheric effects made for spectacular sunsets all over Europe and the United States and average global temperatures were up to 1.2 degrees cooler for the next five years.