When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural advances – including the horror masterpiece Frankenstein
Tim Harford's podcast that I listened this morning mentioned a Volcano in Indonesia called Mt Tambora. He did not specify its location though which made wonder. Turns out it is located on the northern coast of Sumbawa island. In April 1815 exploded in the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It is now 2,851 metres (9,354 feet) high, having lost much of its top in the 1815 eruption. The volcano remains active; smaller eruptions took place in 1880 and 1967, and episodes of increased seismic activity occurred in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
It would be unthinkable to have that eruption these days. I am sure as a country Indonesia would suffers tremendously. The immediate effects were most profound on Sumbawa and surrounding islands. Some 80,000 people perished from disease and famine, since crops could not grow. In 1816, parts of the world as far away as western Europe and eastern North America experienced sporadic periods of heavy snow and killing frost through June, July, and August. Such cold weather events led to crop failures and starvation in those regions, and the year 1816 was called the “year without a summer.”
Indonesia has made many progress in building infrastructures all over the country. In the past such development were mostly centralized in Java island, not so lately. It would be devastating to experience such catastrophe today.
Of course no one would be able to predict when the next big eruption would happen. Come to think of of it, we tend to forget that we are living in a volcanic planet. One big eruption somewhere in the planet would certainly affect the whole world, just like what happened when Mt Tambora erupted back then.
How many active volcanoes are there? The answer to this common question depends upon use of the word "active." At least 20 volcanoes will probably be erupting as you read these words. The number is also dependent on what time scale is included, and if only confirmed eruptions are counted, or uncertain eruptions and the opinions of volcanologists are considered. Because dormant intervals between major eruptions at a single volcano may last hundreds to tens of thousands of years, dwarfing the relatively short historical record in many regions, it is misleading to restrict usage of "active volcano" to recorded human memories: we prefer to add another identifying word (e.g. "historically active" or "Holocene" volcano). The numbers will change as new research is published, new age dates are acquired, or new criteria are applied and volcanoes are reviewed.
https://timharford.com/2022/06/cautionary-tales-frankenstein-versus-the-volcano/
https://as hwww.britannica.com/place/Mount-Tambora
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