Is World's Deadliest Volcano Ready to Explode?

indonesia volcano deadliest volcano

The last time the deadliest volcano in the planet exploded it was 1815. It killed more than 71,000 people on the spot and it was responsible for a volcanic winter that caused the worst worldwide famine of the 19th century.

Now it may explode again.

This is the intro to a good piece over on Gizmodo about Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia.

If you didn’t gather it from the title and the staggering figures above, Mount Tambora’s 1815 eruption killed more people in total than any other known volcanic eruption in history.

Climate Change from Mount Tambora

After the 1815 eruption, the world temperatue dropped a lot, as the volcanic ash rose all the way up to the stratosphere (140,000 feet or 43 kilometers, in total) and spread — ” a stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil remained for years, dimming the sunlight everywhere.” The global temperature the next summer was 0.5 degrees Celsius lower than average (if you believe climate scientists, of course — and why wouldn’t you). For anyone who doesn’t follow climate science discussions, a change in the climate of 0.5 degress Celsius is significant.

As we are already seeing now due to global warming, but perhaps more sudden and dramatic, this climate change resulted in massive crop failures, livestock deaths, extreme weather, and world famine. New diseases also spread widely.

Mount Tambora Today

So, what’s going on today?

According to experts, Tambora is on the verge of another eruption. No one knows how big it would be, but the signs are: “watch out.”

Going from about 5 earthquakes in the Spring to over 200 now, the Earth is rumbling on this Indonesian island.

Of course, the local authorities are warning residents of this and have set a 2-mile danger perimeter. The residents are well aware of what happened in 1815 and most are fleeing. Even some outside of the 2-mile perimeter are fleeing (I think I would, too).

Mount Tambor Image published by Jialiang Gao (peace-on-earth.org) under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

22 thoughts on “Is World's Deadliest Volcano Ready to Explode?”

  1. Other very dangerous volcanoes are Campi Flegrie in Naples. This volcano is a time bomb waiting to happen. Every is afraid of Vsuvieus (spelling??) but it is a burp compared to what Flegrie would do to Europe if it erupts. Campi Flegrie would wipe out Europe big time if it erupts. It would cause massive earth quakes and tsuanmi’s. Another deadly Volcano that could end the world is Katla in Iceland. Just think of the MEGA tidelwaves this volcano would cause if it erupts and melts ice caps. Another deadly super volcano is La Garita Caldera or Fishman Tuff. It was one of the most massive Eruptions ever!! Couple geologist told me that it is starting to growl again!!!

  2. Lake Toba is the deadliest Volcano in the world!!! Toba makes any volcano you mentioned look like a zit. Only the Siberian Traps and Fishermans Tuff can be mentioned in the same breath of Lake Toba. If Toba goes off the world will be done.

  3. The eruption of Mt Fuji will indicate that an east/west fault line has fractured, allowing Northern Honshu to slide into a 6500 metre ocean trench. Earthquakes of the past 90 days in the eastern side of Japan has weakened it’s foundation, a porous sub-structure; a land of a volcanic substance. The resulting tsunamis’ will wipe-out millions of humans in the Pacific region as well as severely destabilizing the Earth’s crust, resulting in the dislodging of the Western & Eastern Antarctic ice sheets. This massive loss of weight from the continent of Antarctica will result in an asymmetric rotation of the Earth and so cause the isostasy (Balance of the Earth’s crust.) to become unbalanced. Crust displacement at Magnitude 12+ will then occur until the Earth’s crust reaches equilibrium, while at the same time hundreds of volcanoes will erupt, lands will disappear and have an extreme destabilizing effect on the climate patterns.

  4. Funny how science is now analyzed by political agenda and conspiracy theories, instead of just what it is science. Thank you for this article, very interesting. I am no scientist, just a Native American who noticed those plants I use from the wild now have two and three growing periods per year, instead of one. From some of these posts they will blame that on Al Gore also. However generations of those before me left us with stories about this, it is Mother Earth in distress.

  5. It is SO SIMPLE to fix this problem. Just have the US Congress pass a law that prohibits volcanoes from erupting – Problem solved. They seem to be able to fix everything else with their laws, and look how much better off we all are….

  6. You say “The global temperature the next summer was 0.5 degrees Celsius lower than average (if you believe climate scientists, of course — and why wouldn’t you)”

    Now THAT one made me laugh. We learned from the leaked emails between the leading global warming scientists (“climategate”) that they colluded to exclude research that didn’t agree with their pet theory: anthropogenic global warming. So THAT is why climate scientists shouldn’t be believed.

    1. Actually, we DIDN’T learn that. 7 independent investigations have now found that there was no manipulation of data or science and the clear findings they have come to after decades of research are true. I’m sorry, but try again.

  7. Are you still on this global warming crap. Perhaps you should use real science to investigate! Not Al Gore’s Club of Rome version which is closer to Mickey Mouse than Mickey.

    1. I’m sorry, but climate science is real science, which is why it has been backed by basically every leading overarching scientific institution in the world now. I’m sorry it’s inconvenient to you, but we all need to work together if we are going to leave a livable climate to our children.

  8. Fascinating article, if this thing blows, how long will it be before Al Gore blames it on capitalism & tries to create a new taxing bureaucracy?
    As far as the plug for global warming, you can leave that topic out of the story since it belongs in the fiction area, along with Bigfoot, Elvis is alive, Harry Potter & the really big whopper about some girl being a virgin, yet had a child implanted from gods & not from her husband…really! it can happen!

    1. That’s just ridiculous, Dave. If you think Al Gore is working on the topic just to make money, I don’t know what to do for you.

      humans ARE to blame for current global warming, this is clear. see:

      http://planetsave.com/2010/08/18/humans-cause-global-warming-10-indicators/

      http://www.skepticalscience.com/empirical-evidence-for-global-warming.htm

      http://www.skepticalscience.com/settled-science.htm

      http://planetsave.com/2011/05/21/17-nobel-laureates-call-for-“fundamental-transformation-and-innovation-in-all-spheres-and-at-all-scales-in-order-to-stop-and-reverse-global-environmental-change”/

      http://planetsave.com/2010/05/07/255-leading-scientists-11-nobel-laureates-write-letter-supporting-climate-scientists-climate-science/

      and if you’re still confused by the climategate crime (meaning, someone stealing over 10 years of emails and trying to frame reputable scientists), check out:

      http://planetsave.com/2011/02/25/cliamtegate-one-more-investigation-still-no-basis-for-accusations-of-misconduct/

      http://planetsave.com/2011/09/02/yes-climategate-was-science-denier-b-s/

      http://planetsave.com/2011/02/03/the-real-climategate-crime/

      1. Dude, humans destroy the environment with pollution, GMO’s, over-fishing the oceans and dangerous technologies. Humans have nothing to do with the temperature of the planet. That is driven by the sun, moon, and oceans. Basic geology and astrophysics bud.

      2. You say, “That’s just ridiculous, Dave. If you think Al Gore is working on the topic just to make money, I don’t know what to do for you.”

        But that’s not an argument; that’s an appeal to ridicule. In fact, that Al Gore has, and will, profit personally from his carbon trading scheme is a perfectly valid reason to criticize his claims. And the fact that you use an appeal to ridicule instead of present a valid defense of his motives, shows your weak argument.

        1. No, your logic is just off.

          Al Gore sees global warming as a huge threat to our planet (as he did for decades before he invested in any such scheme).

          Because he sees it as such a bit threat, he also sees it as something we will have to address. Logically, he is putting money in things that will grow from our addressing it. Common sense.

    2. G-day Dave, Did the wife come back and how long did she stay.
      Big chance of a massive eruption from a Magna Plume in the next 16 days.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top