Tambora

About

On 10 April 1815, Tambora produced the largest eruption known on the planet during the past 10,000 years. The volcano erupted more than 50 cubic kilometers of magma and collapsed afterwards to form a 6 km wide and 1250 m deep caldera. The eruption produced global climatic effects and killed more than 100,000 people, directly and indirectly. Minor lava domes and flows have been extruded on the caldera floor at Tambora during the 19th and 20th centuries.The reason for the climatic changes was increased absorption of sunlight due to a veil of aerosols (consisting mostly of tiny droplets of H2SO3 acid, formed by SO2 release) that were dispersed around both hemispheres by stratospheric currents from the tall eruption column. Global temperatures dropped by as much as 3 deg C in 1816 and recovered during the following years. It is also believed that the eruption produced tsunamis with waves possibly as high as 10 meters.The estimated number of deaths varies depending on the source. Zollinger (1855) puts the number of direct deaths at 10,000, probably caused by pyroclastic flows. On Sumbawa island, 38,000 deaths were due to starvation, and another 10,000 deaths occurred due to disease and hunger on Lombok island. Petroeschevsky (1949) estimated about 48,000 and 44,000 people were killed on Sumbawa and Lombok, respectively. Several authors use Petroeschevsky's figures, such as Stothers (1984), who cites 88,000 deaths in total. However, Tanguy et al.. (1998) claimed Petroeschevsky's figures to be unfounded and based on untraceable references. Tanguy revised the number solely based on two credible sources, q.e., Zollinger, who himself spent several months on Sumbawa after the eruption, and Raffles's notes. Tanguy pointed out that there may have been additional victims on Bali and East Java because of famine and disease. Their estimate was 11,000 deaths from direct volcanic effects and 49,000 by posteruption famine and epidemic diseases. Oppenheimer (2003) stated a modified number of at least 71,000 deaths in total.Reid takes note of the total direct and indirect deaths caused beyond Sumbawa, in Bali and elsewhere, and suggests that a figure of perhaps 100,000 deaths is an appropriate estimate