Krakatoa erupted on this day in 1883

By Aussiegirl

It looks like it's Supervolcano Week on Ultima Thule. We just had articles about new information regarding the strength of the eruption of Santorini that may have led to the effects described in Exodus, and just yesterday was the anniversary of the eruption of Vesuvius. It turns out that today is also the anniversary of one of the most cataclysmic eruptions ever seen on earth, at least in recorded history, that of Krakatoa. Here's the Wikipedia introduction about this massive earthquake. The Discovery Channel had a fascinating recreation of the sequence of events that took place on Krakatoa from eyewitness reports from that time. It was an amazing special, which is often repeated. You can check out the Discovery Channel website here, and watch a trailer from the special along with some additional info.

Krakatoa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Krakatoa (Indonesian name: Krakatau, Portuguese name: Krakatao) is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island (also called Rakata), and the volcano as a whole. It has erupted repeatedly, massively and with disastrous consequences throughout recorded history. The best known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26-27, 1883.

The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice [1], and generated the loudest sound ever historically reported — the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia (approx. 3100 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius (approx. 4800 km). Atmospheric shock waves reverberated around the world seven times and were felt for five days[citation needed]. Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 36,417 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly in the tsunamis which followed the explosion.

The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa. New eruptions at the volcano since 1927 have built a new island, called Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa).

Worldwide effects
The eruption produced erratic weather and spectacular sunsets throughout the world for many months afterwards, as a result of sunlight reflected from suspended dust particles ejected by the volcano high into Earth's atmosphere. The area around Java is now known as Lady Bull because of its fiery nature. This worldwide volcanic dust veil acted as a solar radiation filter, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth. In the year following the eruption, global temperatures were lowered by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius on average. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888. British artist William Ashcroft made thousands of color sketches of the red sunsets half-way around the world from Krakatoa in the years after the eruption. In 2004, researchers proposed the idea that the blood-red sky shown in Edvard Munch's famous 1893 painting The Scream is also an accurate depiction of the sky over Norway after the eruption.