1815 Eruption of Mount Tambora

I had a dream which was not all a dream the bright sun was extinguish'd and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space rayless and pathless the icy earth's one blind and blackening in the moonless air the opening lines to the poem darkness by lord byron where the protagonist predicts the end of the earth paint a dismal picture some say that byron was inspired by an italian scientist prediction that the Sun was about to burn out and that the earth was going to be doomed others say that it was an analogy for his failing marriage but the poem unquestionably was inspired by real events of the day in 1815 Mount Tambora in what was then the Dutch East Indies erupted it was the largest volcanic eruption in human history although there's some evidence that there were larger eruptions in prehistory the impact on the people in the immediate area was of course devastating but the long-term impacts on the entire Earth were vast and surprising the impact of the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora deserves to be remembered after centuries of dormancy the approximately 14,000 100 foot tall Mount Tambora on the island of sumbawa started to rumble in 1812 on April 5th 1815 the volcano started a massive eruption continued until a violent climax on April 10th with explosions so loud they were heard at least 1,600 miles away in Sumatra the explosions were heard so clearly in Java 780 miles distant that the British Army thought that it was cannon fire and dispatched troops thinking that a nearby army post was under attack the relative explosiveness of a volcanic eruption is measured by the volcanic explosivity index or vei device in 1982 by scientists working with the US Geological Survey and the University of Hawaii the primary eruption characteristic used to determine the volcanic explosivity index is the volume of pyroclastic material essentially fragments of rock ejected by the volcano and thus the vei of historic volcanoes can be estimated from their craters the scale is logarithmic with each interval on the scale representing eight tenfold increase in observed ejecta criteria thus the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo at vei magnitude six injected about 10 times as much pyroclastic material as the vei magnitude 5 eruption of Mount st. Helens in 1980 while the scale is theoretically open-ended the most explosive volcanic eruptions in history called super volcanoes have had a vei magnitude of ate the last magnitude 8 eruption in history was in New Zealand around 25,000 360 BC the temporal eruption of 1815 had a vei magnitude of 7 releasing ten times the amount of pyroclastic material as Pinatubo it was the most powerful volcanic eruption in human history the amount of material ejected was mind-blowing ly massive nearly ten cubic miles of stone some 10 billion tons worth was ejected as ash the mountain lost nearly 5,000 feet of elevation with ash falling more than 800 miles away explosions continued into mid-july and smoke was still being emitted in August aftershocks continued for years the effect on the surrounding area was of course devastating the vegetation on the island was entirely destroyed and some estimates put the immediate deaths due to the eruption in excess of 10,000 but those numbers only represent those killed immediately by the ash and gas from the explosion the eruption also caused a moderate tsunami that was estimated to have killed about 4,500 people but the effects of the eruption of course reach farther than the immediate blast the ash kills crops so people die of starvation the ash destroys homes so that people exposed to weather and unsanitary conditions the unsanitary conditions are breeding grounds for pathogens like cholera bacteria and people exposed to those pathogens are more susceptible to them because their bodies are weakened by the starvation and exposure volcanoes also released gases like sulphur that can damage lungs and make people more susceptible to respiratory infections like colds and influenza the after-effects of the eruption are generally thought to have resulted in many times those deaths caused directly by the eruption but the 1815 temporal eruption is known for more than its immediate effects rather it is a study in how naps disasters affect world events and sometimes very surprising ways the general discussion of the worldwide effects of the Tambora eruption largely tend to focus on the effect that the particles in the atmosphere had on the weather in the summer of 1816 and we'll get there in a moment but more recent scientific research suggests that large eruptions like Tambora can have a more immediate atmospheric effect and in 1815 that might have dramatically impacted one of the most important events in European history well kind of corruptions throw material and gases into the atmosphere and that can cause large effects on climate and certainly did in the case of Tambora but it takes time for those particles to move around the planet new research published in 2018 by dr. Matthew Dench of Imperial College London suggests the effects of an eruption can actually impact the climate much faster the impact of volcanic particles was long thought to have an atmospheric limit that is gauge explains it has long been conventional wisdom that volcanic tephra the small particles of rock could not be injected into higher layers of Earth's atmosphere because temperature inversion in the stratosphere acts as a barrier to convective rise begins notes that large volcanic eruptions include a significant electrostatic charge and that allows tiny charged particles to rise much higher than previously expected through a process called electrostatic levitation they go all the way up into the ionosphere much higher than the stratosphere the ionosphere is heavily ionized by solar radiation but the charged particles carry a negative charge which reduces the positive ion density in the atmosphere the ionosphere will then seek equilibrium changes that are both global and effectively immediate Ginn's concludes that large explosive eruptions could therefore have a significant effect on the global electrical circuit the change then affects the formation of clouds by disrupting the formation of cloud nuclei with the immediate effect of decreasing rainfall globally however that then means that more moistures trapped in the atmosphere and as the ionosphere recovers there can be a rebound period of significantly more rain such impacts might occur months before things like sulfate aerosols from the eruption that affect climate via different means might spread to impact a particular part of the globe Ginn's notes that there's to indicate that electrostatic levitation occurred after the eruption of Krakatoa volcano in 1883 this effect even if it's short-lived can have a large impact agriculture often depends upon rain at the right time and having too little rain or too much rain at the wrong time can significantly affect crop yields but rain affects things outside agriculture for example a 2006 paper published by the Royal Meteorological Society notes that there's evidence at the months of May and June 1815 were particularly wet in Europe effects consistent with dentists conclusions regarding the effect of electrostatic levitation following the April eruption of Tambora that rain included a particularly violent storm of the continent the night of June 17th which left sodden ground in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands the morning of June 18th that was a problem for one Napoleon Bonaparte who on June 18th was rushing to engage the Allied anglo-dutch army under the Duke of Wellington before they could join with Gabbard von blücher Prussian army Napoleon's great advantage was his greater number of heavy artillery pieces the sodden ground delayed his pursuit meaning that the battle fought on ground chosen by Wellington was fought some hours later than it likely would have been had the ground be more amenable to moving heavy cannon despite the battles name it was not actually fought in the village of Waterloo where Wellington had located his headquarters some three miles distant from the battlefield but it was true that Bonaparte met his metaphorical Waterloo as he failed to defeat Wellington's army before Blucas army arrived on his flank as a result Napoleon's army was routed Napoleon was finally defeated and the Napoleonic Wars came to an end well being careful not to suggest that weather positively determines the outcomes of a battle the overall suggestion is that the eruption in the Dutch East Indies in April might have impacted the result of the Battle of Waterloo Victor Hugo who was president the battle certainly thought so riding his 1862 work lame is robbed he said had it not rained on the night of 1718 June 1815 the future of Europe would have been different well the battle hinged on many factors it's hard to discount the possibility that the weather may have swung the difference for as the Duke of Wellington later said the Battle of who was the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life historians can argue forever over the counterfactual of what might have happened and Napoleon 1 at Waterloo but the impact may have been rather large writing in Smithsonian magazine on the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2015 British historian Andrew Roberts contends if Napoleon had remained Emperor of France for the six years remaining in his natural life European civilization would have benefited inestimable the reactionary holy alliance of Russia Prussia and Austria would not have been able to crush liberal constitutionalist movements in Spain Greece Eastern Europe and elsewhere pressure to join France in abolishing slavery in Asia Africa and the Caribbean would have grown the benefits of meritocracy over feudalism would have had time to become more widely appreciated Jews would not have been forced back into their dedos in the papal States and made to wear the yellow star again encouragement of the Arts and Sciences would have been better understood and copied and the plans to rebuild Paris would have been implemented making it the most gorgeous city in the world all lost because of a volcanic eruption some 7600 miles away and tomorrow's effects had just begun the volcano had thrown up billions of tons of ash and sulfur gases the ash had an ablative effect blocking the Sun as it moves through the atmosphere but the greatest effect comes from the sulfur gases so2 in the stratosphere the sofa then oxidizes to form sulfate aerosols and the aerosols reflect the solar radiation cooling the surface but also warm the stratosphere as they collect solar radiation the mix changes circulation in the atmosphere causing extreme climate fluctuations Tim Bora was a massive eruption one scientific paper studying the effect of the eruption concluded the eruption of Mount Tambora is therefore very likely to have had a profound impact on a global scale the result when combined with other atmospheric effects at the time was something called volcanic winter but the people in 1816 called it the year without a summer global average temperatures were some 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.7 degrees Celsius colder than normal it was the coldest year in Europe in 250 years the cold temperatures and lake freezes caused Weisberg crop failures throughout Europe North America disrupted weather patterns caused flooding in northern Europe China and India the price of food crops skyrocketed in what history and John D post called the last great subsistence crisis in the Western world still reeling from the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars food riots occurred all over Europe in the United States New England faced hard freezes throughout the summer transportation networks were disrupted as lakes and rivers usually used for commerce froze over the price of oats in the u.s. increased nearly seven fold the food shortages and unusual wetness contributed to the spread of disease cholera in India typhus in Ireland one BBC documentary estimated that death rates were essentially doubled in Europe in 1816 a number that would mean some 200,000 extra deaths the disruptions caused large-scale migration and the u.s. many agricultural families moved West contributed to westward expansion and growing populations that would lead to the creation of the states of Indiana and Illinois the western expansion raised tensions both with Native American populations and in the regional tensions that would eventually erupt into the u.s. civil war migrations from New England to Western and Central New York turned the area into a central location of abolitionist sentiment one estimate had Vermont losing population between ten and fifteen thousand dramatically reducing population growth in the state Vermonter Joseph Smith was one of those who migrated to New York due to the effects of the year without a summer it was in New York that he claimed to discover the tablets that were translated into what would become the Book of Mormon leading to the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints a religion that today has nearly 15 million adherents and has played various significant roles in US history the tephra in the atmosphere gave the sky a yellow tinge and at times so obstructed the view of the Sun that sunspots could be seen with the naked eye this was seen by some as a sign that the world was about to end causing panic but the same effect resulted in brilliant sunsets captured in the works of British artist JMW Turner some of the unexpected effects were startling the rise of the price of oats in Germany made horse ownership the primary mode of personal transportation much more expensive a 2005 edition of New Scientist magazine suggested that the of oats prompted German inventor Carl brace to invent the lost machine human powered alternative to the horse the machine commonly called the dandy horse patented in 1817 was the precursor to the bicycle near Geneva Switzerland a group of poets and writers renting a villa were essentially forced to live indoors in that dismal summer in their confinement one of the poets suggested a ghost contest to see who could commemorate the dreary existence by writing the scariest story the person making that suggestion was George Gordon Byron better known as Lord Byron and one of his products was the poem darkness his unfinished work called a fragment was one of the first in English to feature a vampire theme and is credited by some as the genesis of vampire horror literature another member of the group created the idea for her great novel set in the dismal weather of the year without a summer published anonymously in 1818 the work Frankenstein the modern prometheus by Mary Shelley is considered one of the most influential novels of all time the eruption of Mount Tambora was not the only factor in the unique climate of the Year 1816 there were other volcanic eruptions that also might have affected it and it was a time of a solar nadir but more recent research suggests that the eruption of tempera was the primary most important factor causing that weather in 1816 and we've observed in much smaller form the same impacts coming from volcanic eruptions that have occurred since supporting that idea that it was the eruption of tempera that was the primary reason that 1816 was the year without a summer and that eruption in 1815 represents the integral connection between human history and natural events Mount Tambora is still an active volcano it's been constantly monitored and has a growing lava dome modern estimates say that because of the growth in population in Indonesia if Tambora were to erupt today with the same ferocity than it did in 1815 some eight million people would be in the area that was immediately affected [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, volcano, mount tambora, napoleonic wars, year without a summer

Id: urYvBb7_OBM

Length: 15min 44sec (944 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020

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[u/ashGlaw]

Cool video. Thanks for sharing