Aceh is near Krakatoa

[Chicago Democrat]

I didn't know that. When Krakatoa blew there was a tsunami as well, tho the death toll back then was only 36K.

[jdj]

1. yes, 1883, and one in 1833 too.

[Locut0s]

2. The population density has increased IMMENSELY from then till now.

[HeeBGBz]

3. Isn't Toba there, as well?

Toba Toba Toba

The Volcano That May Destroy Mankind

[arcos]

4. " air waves from the explosions travelled seven times around the world..."

Not only it caused tsunamis but it affected the whole world in different, strange ways:

"The 1883 eruption was amongst the most severe volcanic explosions in modern times (VEI of 6, equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT - by way of comparison, the biggest bomb ever made by man, Tsar Bomba, is around 50 megatons). Concussive air waves from the explosions travelled seven times around the world, and the sky was darkened for days afterwards. The island of Rakata itself largely ceased to exist as over two thirds of its exposed land area was blown to dust, and its surrounding ocean floor was drastically altered. Two nearby islands, Verlaten and Lang, had their land masses increased. Volcanic ash continues to be a significant part of the geological composition of these islands.

<snip>

The eruption produced spectacular sunsets throughout the world for many months afterwards, as a result of sunlight reflected from suspended dust particles ejected by the volcano high into Earth's atmosphere. Interestingly, researchers in 2004 proposed the idea that the blood-red sky shown in Edvard Munch's famous 1893 painting The Scream is an accurate depiction of the sky over Norway after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

It has been suggested that an eruption of Krakatoa may have been responsible for the global climate changes of 535-536. Additionally, in recent times, it has been argued that it was this eruption which created the islands of Verlaten and Lang (remnants of the original) and the beginnings of Rakata - all indicators of that early Krakatoa's caldera size, and not the long-believed eruption of c. 416, for which conclusive evidence does not exist.

Since the 1883 eruption, a new island volcano, called Anak Krakatau ("Child of Krakatoa"), has formed in the caldera. Of considerable interest to volcanologists, this has been the subject of extensive study since 1960. Additionally, it has also been studied as a case study of island biogeography and founder populations in an ecosystem being built from the ground up, virtually sterilized, certainly with no macroscopic life surviving the explosion. However, the island is still active, growing at the rate of five inches (12.7 cm) per week."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa

[quaoar]

5. Actually it's not that close

Krakatoa is in the strait between Sumatra and Java, at the other end of Sumatra from Aceh.

[bobbieinok]

6. and what about 1816, the 'year without a summer'?

http://www.dandantheweatherman.com/Bereklauw/yearnosummer.html

1816 - The Year without a Summer
Introduction
The period 1812-1817 was one of exceptional volcanic activity, and the sheer volume of volcanic dust pumped into the atmosphere by these volcanic eruptions caused a general, temporary cooling in the earth’s climate around this time.

This temporary climatic cooling peaked during the summer of 1816 was the peak of this cooling and the reason the peak fell in the summer of 1816 is almost certainly die to the eruption of the Tamboro volcano east of Java in April 1815 (believed to be one of the most explosive eruptions of the last 10,000 years). At the time sunspots were blamed for the unseasonable weather (Laskin 1996). Anyway, this eruption put more than 150 million tonnes of dust in the atmosphere which gradually spread around the globe acting as a veil reflecting incoming solar radiation back into space and cooling the earth (temporarily) which in turn caused a change in the world’s, and in particular the northern hemisphere’s, weather patterns. Some dust from volcanic eruptions in the West Indies in 1812 and Philippines in 1814 was also probably still the atmosphere (Lamb 1995) and this will have helped the global cooling process too.

So if Tamboro erupted in 1815 why wasn’t the summer of 1815 rather than the summer of 1816 the year without a summer? Well, the answer is that there is a time lag between a volcanic eruption and a change in weather patterns caused by the length of time needed for stratospheric winds to distribute the volcanic dust particles around the world.

more....

[bobbieinok]

7. and the weather in London

http://website.lineone.net/~fight/Stepney/weather.htm

....

1813/14 A severe frost commenced on 27 December 1813 and continued until 27 March 1814. During this period there was an unusually thick fog which lasted for 8 days followed by a large fall of snow. By 31 January the Thames was a complete field of ice from London Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge and on 4 February a fair was held between the two bridges. Thousands of people attended from all over London and its environs.79 successive days without rain was recorded at Mile End between March and May. (Britain Discovered, Marwick.)

1814 Frost Fair on the Thames. See Website The Frost Fair 1814

more....

lots of interesting info at this site

[bobbieinok]

8. site with many contemporary sources

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/1816.htm



The Infamous
"Year Without A Summer"

Of the cold summers in the period 1811 to 1817, the year 1816 has gone down in the annals of New England history as "The Year There Was No Summer," the "Poverty Year" and "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." The year began with a moderate but dry winter. Spring was tardy and continued very dry. The growing season from late spring to early fall, however, was punctuated by a series of devastating cold waves that did major damage to the crops and greatly reduced the food supply. In areas of central and northern New England, the summer had only two extended periods without frost or near freezing temperatures. A widespread snow fell in June. As a result, corn did not ripen and hay, fruits, and vegetables were greatly reduced in quantity and quality.

much more....

From contemporary newspaper accounts and diary entries as well as a small network of stations at which meteorological conditions were recorded daily, it is possible document the turn of events in the summer of 1816. (For the location of most sites mentioned in the text, see the map at the end of the article.)