Aug 26, 2015
Today marks the 132nd anniversary of the beginning of the
eruption of Krakatoa in what is now Indonesia.
Here are some things you may not have known about the
eruption:
The island of Krakatoa is located in the Sunda Strait between
the islands of Java and Sumatra.
Krakatoa is located at the subduction zone of the Eurasian
Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate which causes the area to be
geologically active.
The islands appear to have been only occasionally inhabited,
likely due to the volcanic activity and a lack of a harbor for
ships to land.
In May of 1883 steam began to escape from the northernmost
cone of the island. Earthquakes could be felt as far away as
Australia and explosions could be heard in what is now Jakarta,
about 100 miles away.
The volcano continued to rumble through the summer.
By the middle of August all vegetation had been killed and the
island was covered with a foot and a half of ash.
The eruption started in earnest on August 26 with explosions
of ash roughly every 10 minutes. Ships in the area reported ash and
hot pumice landing on their decks.
On the morning of August 27, four massive explosions triggered
equally massive tsunamis which were responsible for the vast
majority of the more than 36,000 deaths caused by the
eruption.
The final and largest explosion could be heard nearly 3,000
miles away on an island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The
eruption ruptured the ear drums of sailors 40 miles away and caused
a spike in barometric pressure the traveled around the globe an
estimated three-and-a-half times.
Two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa was destroyed by the
eruption. It produced a volcanic winter where worldwide
temperatures were reduced by more than two degrees on average.
Temperatures did not return to normal for five years. The ash
caused colorful sunsets around the world for several months
afterward. It’s believed that the red sky in the background of
Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” is an accurate representation
of the sky above Norway following the eruption.
Our question, the 1969 disaster film “Krakatoa, East of Java”
is loosely based on the 1883 eruption. What is the problem with the
title of the movie?
Today is also: Heroes’ Day in Namibia, Repentance Day in Papua
New Guinea and Women’s Equality Day in the United States.
Unofficially, it’s also National Dog Day and National Cherry
Popsicle Day in the United States. It’s the birthday of Britain’s
Prince Albert, Mother Teresa and late Washington Post editor
Benjamin Bradlee.
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa