Over the following four months the volcano exploded - the largest volcanic explosion in recorded history. Many people close to the volcano lost their lives in the event. Mount Tambora ejected so much ash and aerosols into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view.
Ashfall can cause partial or complete darkness by blocking sunlight. Depending on several factors, including the size and duration of an eruption, strength and direction of the wind, and distance from the volcano, an area may experience dark conditions for as little as a few minutes or as long as 1-3 days.
Modern scholarship has determined that in early AD 536 (or possibly late 535), an eruption ejected massive amounts of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere, which reduced the solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface and cooled the atmosphere for several years.
If another large, caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Such a giant eruption would have regional effects such as falling ash and short-term (years to decades) changes to global climate.
A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, particularly explosive volcanic eruption.
The Krakatau eruption had an explosive force of a 200-megatonne bomb, killing more than 36,000 people and cooling the entire Earth by an average of 0.6°C for months to come.
An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for several years. A similar phenomenon occurred in 1815 with the cataclysmic eruption of Tambora Volcano in Indonesia, the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Tambora's volcanic cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3 degrees Celsius.
The biggest supervolcano on Earth was discovered in 2013: the Tamu Massif, with a 4 km height and a 640 km width, a submarine shield volcano located in the Pacific Ocean, east of Japan.
That being the case, there is still about 100,000 years to go, but this is based on the average of just two time intervals between the eruptions, which is meaningless. Most volcanic systems that have a supereruption do not have them multiple times.
The Yellowstone supervolcano, located in northwestern Wyoming in Yellowstone National Park, is one of the largest volcanoes in the world. It's erupted multiple times over the past 2.1 million years, including three massive eruptions that smothered the surrounding landscape in ash.
In April of 1815, Mount Tambora exploded in a powerful eruption that killed tens of thousands of people on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The following year became known as the “year without a summer” when unusually cold, wet conditions swept across Europe and North America.
' Falling in the time known as the 'Dark Ages', the year 536 AD fully embraced this moniker as Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia were plunged into 24-hour darkness for 18 months. Summer temperatures plummeted between 1.5-2.5°C causing crops to fail and millions to starve to death. The cause?
The world's largest volcanic eruption to happen in the past 100 years was the June 15, 1991, eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
What's clear about volcanoes on this planet is that Earth would have been desolate without them. By belching molten rock onto its surface from deep inside, these underground furnaces helped build Earth's continents.
Mount Tambora ejected so much ash and aerosols into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view. The large particles spewed by the volcano fell to the ground nearby, covering towns with enough ash to collapse homes.
The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.7–1 °F). Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest of any on record between the years of 1766 and 2000.
There are about 20 known supervolcanoes on Earth - including Lake Toba in Indonesia, Lake Taupo in New Zealand, and the somewhat smaller Phlegraean Fields near Naples, Italy. Super-eruptions occur rarely - only once every 100,000 years on average.
The Yellowstone supervolcano is supposed to erupt around 2030, and will kill countless people, including wiping out the US.
Yellowstone is routinely monitored for signs of volcanic activity. These methods include using seismographs to detect earthquakes and using GPS (Global Positioning System) to detect ground motion. The USGS has not detected any signs of activity that suggest an eruption is imminent.
What are some examples of supervolcanoes? Volcanoes that have produced exceedingly voluminous pyroclastic eruptions and formed large calderas in the past 2 million years include Yellowstone in northwest Wyoming, Long Valley in eastern California, Toba in Indonesia, and Taupo in New Zealand.
Although they might occur infrequently, even on a geological timeline, supervolcanoes are by no means insignificant. Unlike isolated incidents of tragedy that affect different people groups around the world, one supervolcano could pose a threat to all life on Earth.
The lava dome is very hot so rain instantly vapourises. Hence a large rain rate is needed to get further inside cracks in the rocks. Once deep inside, the rainwater vapourises into high pressure steam as it encounters temperatures in excess of 300 C. This destabilises the lava dome and sometimes leads to a collapse.
Krakatoa, Indonesian Krakatau, volcano on Rakata Island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, Indonesia. Its explosive eruption in 1883 was one of the most catastrophic in history.