Some of you are aware that I am undertaking some study in climate change. Thus, I am learning about lots of interesting things. One of the things I learned a bit about recently was a bicentennial in April that went largely un-noticed.
In April 1815, the biggest volcanic explosion in 7,000 years occurred. It happened in Indonesia at a place called Mount Tambora. Not only was it massive, it also buried a city and created what’s been dubbed “the Pompeii of the east”. I was amazed that I hadn’t heard about this earlier.
I was learning about it because the explosion caused one year of climate change (temperatures dropped globally due to the amount of ejecta in the atmosphere). According to Wikipedia: “The eruption caused global climate anomalies that included the phenomenon known as “volcanic winter”: 1816 became known as the “Year Without a Summer” because of the effect on North American and European weather. Crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century.”
The story makes fascinating reading:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4748902.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/science/28volc.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/world-s-largest-volcanic-erruption-indonesia-samalas-510481
Fascinating.
Andrew Woodward 