Mount Tambora Eruption 1815

Mount Tambora is an active volcano on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. The eruption in the year 1815 was the largest in recorded history. The magnitude of the eruption is illustrated by the fact that before the 1815 Mount Tambora used to be one of the largest peaks of Indonesia measuring about 4,300 m (14,100 ft). After the eruption, however, its size is now about 2,800 m (9,200 ft). During the explosion ash and aerosols were released to the atmosphere to heights of more than 30 km (98,000 ft) where they were spread around the Earth and stayed up to a few years. As a consequence, climate anomalies - mostly cooling - occurred on a global scale leading to a failure of agricultural crops and thus famine and riots. Several ten-thousand people died of starvation in the aftermath of the eruption. The animation shows global surface temperature anomalies in the years following the eruption.