Krakatoa eruption: first globally studied disaster
Erupción del Krakatoa: primer desastre global estudiado
- Date
- 27 de agosto de 1883 · confidence high
- Place
- Krakatoa, Sunda Strait, Indonesia
- Credited to
- Rogier Verbeek (report, 1885); Royal Society (Krakatoa report, 1888)
- People
- 👤 R.D.M. Verbeek1845–1926
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The explosion, heard 4800 km away, generated tsunamis that killed 36,000 people and a pressure wave that circled the globe seven times, recorded by barometers; the aerosols caused red sunsets and global cooling. The telegraph made it the first instant global news story.
Coordinates of the volcano. Anak Krakatau, born in 1927, caused another tsunami in 2018.
What it led to
- Modern volcanology and volcano monitoring
- Discovery of stratospheric circulation (equatorial currents)
- Study of the island's biological recolonisation
- Understanding of volcanic cooling
Built on
- Tambora (1815)
- Submarine telegraph
Made possible
- Worldwide network of barometric stations
- Primary succession ecology