Krakatau

"...all of a sudden there came a great noise. We...saw a great black thing, a long way off, coming towards us. It was very high and very strong, and we soon saw that it was water" - From A. Scarth,1999

In May, 1883, on a volcanic island formerly known as Krakatau, a series of eruptions commenced which continued until august 27 1883, when a cataclysmic explosion blew the island apart. Theisland exploded with the force of 100 megatons, a force that greatly exceeds the force of our most conventional nuclear warheads, the sound of the explosion was heard as far as Madagascar, a pressure wavewas powerful enough to pulverize human organs, soon after Tsunamis from the force of the explosion formed and raised to over 131 ft, this massive wall of water destroyed everything along the coast ofSumatra and java, a total of 163 villages stationed on the coasts were wiped out, ships as far away as South Africa rocked as tsunamis hit them, and the bodies of victims were found floating in theocean for weeks after the event.” Contemporary investigators believed that the volcano’s vent sunk below sea level on the morning of august the 27th of 1883, letting sea water flood into it and causinga massive series of phreatic explosions.” In the year following the explosion, global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F). Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, andtemperatures did not return to normal until 1888. The events occurred on Krakatau in 1883 had a severe impact on our stratosphere, there was a global increase of sulfurous acid (H2SO3) concentration inhigh-level cirrus clouds. Clouds now reflected more sun light than they usually did, this condition pushed the planet onto a cooling phase until the suspended particles of sulfur fell to the ground asacid precipitation. In the weeks following the eruption, fine fragments of tephra and dust that were propelled kilometers into the stratosphere began to make a ring around the equator. They would...