Tambora: The Eruption. The Cold. The Year Without Summer.Episode 41:29
The Eruption That Made a Tsunami
Tambora turns fire into water as pyroclastic flows trigger tsunamis and the mountain collapses into a vast caldera.
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Transcript
Pyroclastic flows reached the sea, and the sea answered with a tsunami.
Before erupting, Tambora was one of Indonesia's tallest mountains on Sumbawa.
Before erupting, Tambora ranked among Indonesia's tallest mountains on Sumbawa.
On April 10th, three eruption plumes rose and merged.
Boats were dispatched twice to search for a ship believed to be in distress.
Then pyroclastic flows cascaded down every side, wiping out villages in their path.
A tsunami reached about 13 feet, or 4 meters in Sanggar near 10 p.m. April 10th.
Eruption left a caldera 3.7 miles wide, or 6 kilometers.
Caldera: 3,600 feet deep, or 1,100 meters.
NASA estimates Tambora's peak loss: 13,100 feet, or 4,000 meters.
The Rajah of Sanggar described what he saw:
The mountain appeared like liquid fire.
Eruption ash was recognized at least 808 miles, or 1,300 kilometers northwest.
Smaller particles reached the stratosphere and could spread around the world more easily.
The eruption cut sunlight at Earth's surface, helping create 1816's Year Without a Summer.
What could remain above the weather after the wave was gone?
Where it leaves off
The crater and tsunamis devastated Sumbawa, but 60 megatons of sulfur were climbing high enough to threaten the world.
Sources
- Volcano Watch — Infamous Mount Tambora is rumbling again | U.S. Geological Surveyusgs.govprimary
- This Day In History: Mount Tambora Explosively Erupts in 1815 | NESDIS | National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Servicenesdis.noaa.govprimary
- Mount Tambora Volcano, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia - NASA Sciencescience.nasa.govprimary
- Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer | Center for Science Educationscied.ucar.edusecondary
- 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgsecondary
- VolcanicDegassing | The great eruption of Tambora, April 1815blogs.egu.euprimary
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