201 Years Ago, This Volcano Caused a Climate Catastrophe
Indonesia’s Tambora eruption brought on a deadly spate of cooling—presaging the costs that come with sudden changes to climate.
On April 10, 1815, Indonesia’s island of Sumbawa became ground zero for the worst volcanic eruption in modern times—and a chilling example of a widespread climate catastrophe.
The Tambora event was the largest volcanic eruption in the last millennium. On the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Explosivity Index, Tambora scores a seven out of eight. That’s ten times bigger than the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption and a hundred times more powerful than the 1981 Mount St. Helens blast.
On the island, the immediate event killed at least 10,000 people and possibly more than 90,000, largely from exposure to the searing hot, toxic swells of gas and rock that came tumbling down the mountain, known as pyroclastic flows. But Tambora’s effects were felt even
