Krakatoa erupts

Krakatoa in Indonesia exploded in an eruption that produced deadly tsunamis. The sound was heard thousands of kilometers away, and ash affected sunsets worldwide.

Context

The island volcano erupted violently through 26 and 27 August 1883, ending in four enormous explosions. The loudest, on the morning of 27 August, was heard thousands of kilometres away, and most of the island collapsed into the sea.

The deadliest effect was the sea. The collapse and explosions generated tsunamis that struck the coasts of Java and Sumatra, and the great majority of the roughly 36,000 deaths in the official Dutch count were caused by those waves, not by the ash. Pressure waves from the blast were recorded on barometers around the world, and fine ash and gas in the upper atmosphere gave vivid red sunsets for months and cooled the global climate slightly for a few years.

A new volcano, Anak Krakatau ("child of Krakatoa"), rose from the sea in the same place in the late 1920s and is still active.

Scientists still study Krakatoa because it was one of the first eruptions documented worldwide by telegraph, newspapers and scientific instruments, which let researchers link a single event in Indonesia to effects as far away as Europe and North America.