Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, in the west of the archipelago. It lies south of the larger Mount Rinjani.
The mountain and its surrounding caldera are protected as the Tambora Conservation Area. The volcano experienced an unusually violent eruption in April 1815, known as the “Tambora Eruption.”
In 1815 Mount Tambora erupted in the Dutch East Indies, producing the largest eruption in history over the last 10,000 years. The debris from these many ejections was distributed around the globe, and led to a series of failed crops and famine due to cold weather and lack of sunlight – which meant no photosynthesis – for several months. Upwards of 100,000 people died as a result.
It is known as the biggest and most devastating volcanic eruption in recorded history. Its explosion nearly obliterated an entire island and affected the climate around the globe with its massive emission of gases and ash.
Various lava domes and flows have been extruded on the caldera floor at Tambora during the 19th and 20th centuries.
When Mount Tambora exploded, it caused one of the biggest climate changes in recorded history. The average temperature went down by 3°C. The eruption was probably the largest in recorded history. Scientists have found tree-ring data that indicate a year without a summer in the Northern Hemisphere, followed by a “year without a winter” the next year.
Adverse Effects on Climate
When a volcano is so close to the equator, it can have a lot of global impact. When gas from the volcano is released into the atmosphere, it will cover areas that are affected by different time zones.
The gas affects the amount of heat that is able to go through the atmosphere from the sun. This causes cold temperatures to last longer and warm temperatures to last shorter amounts of time.
The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 caused the worst global cooling event in recorded history, which led to droughts, food shortages, and other disastrous conditions.
It’s tricky to know how many people died from starvation conditions after the eruption. Though there were a million casualties at least, if we include the fact that the cholera spread over the globe during this time, then that number rises to tens of millions.
Major Health Issues People Faced
Although cholera existed before the 1815 eruption, a new strain developed in the Bay of Bengal after the cooling temperatures brought about by Tambora’s eruption. This new strain was easily spread from person to person and became a global disease.
Scientists disagree on whether another volcanic eruption in the past is responsible for deaths. These volcanoes might have killed more people, but there is little evidence to prove it, so most historians think that the Tambora is responsible for the most immediate deaths.
Changes in Atmospheric Patterns
A study published in the Journal of Climate posited that the severe cold experienced in the Norse colonies during the Little Ice Age may have been due to explosive volcanic eruptions, such as the one that decimated Tambora, Indonesia in 1815.
This event not only caused an eruption to occur, but also sent tons of ash and sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to reflect incoming solar radiation. However, scientists are still analyzing other contributing factors to these events; it is likely that there are multiple causes of this.
It’s no wonder that the eruption of a volcano is often associated with fiery activity, lava and pyroclastic flows, and also dramatic images of smoke and ash columns pouring out of the summit and spreading over the surrounding landscape.
Predicting the effects of volcanic eruptions on world weather patterns is difficult because there are several factors that complicate the observation and analysis of volcanic activity.
Volcanic Winter
Volcanic winter occurs when a large amount of volcanic ash and sulfur aerosols are transported into the stratosphere, leading to less solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.
1816 is known as the Year without summer because of severe climate anomalies that caused abnormal weather conditions across locations, including Europe. The coldest summer on record was recorded between the years of 1766 and 2000.
There are multiple theories as to the cause of the “Year without a summer” (also termed ‘Eighteen hundred and froze to death’). Some believe it was before the eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia today) which caused an extremely powerful volcanic winter event.
The volcano most likely responsible for the Year without a summer is Mount Tambora. Also known as Mount Samalas, it’s located on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, and was responsible for a series of violent eruptions that began on April 5, 1815
Effects
After the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora tephra—the rocks, ash and pumice ejected by an explosive volcanic eruption—bloomed to the atmosphere. For years after the eruption, the tephra trapped high levels of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, which produced striking red hues in sunsets.
This was one of the most important events in the settlement of the Midwest. In 1816, a combination of cold weather and volcanic ash blocked out the sun, destroying crops in northern Europe and New England while enabling farmers to grow larger harvests due to milder weather in the west.
Concluding Final Thoughts
Volcanoes come in a variety of sizes, from supervolcanoes to volcanoes that aren’t really dangerous. They usually spew a lot of hot gases and ash. As a result, people have died from volcanic blasts.
When a volcano erupts, it can release a massive amount of hot gases, ash, and rock. These spew out at thousands of kilometers an hour and can wreak havoc on surrounding areas.
Every now and again, a volcano will erupt for a few hours. But most eruptions last a lot longer than that. In fact, the average eruption is over three months long.
The length of a volcano’s eruption depends on a variety of factors. Location, size, and type all play a part in both the start and the length of an eruption.
