Krakatoa is probably the most famous, and deadly, of all volcanos worldwide.

The eruption of August 27, 1883 was so immense that it easily tops the loudest recorded noise in human history, being heard clearly over 5000 km away.

Around a trillion cubic feet of rock, pumice and ash was thrown up into the air, affecting global weather systems and even painting the sky red¹.

When it erupted, two-thirds of the island which Krakatoa occupied was blown apart and caused massive tidal waves, killing thousands of people.

The remains of that original Kraktoa Island is actually 5 km to south and the island which Kraktoa now occupies was “self-built”. Created from subsequent eruptions it broke the surface in 1928 and was dubbed “Anak Krakatau”, or “Child of Krakatoa”.

As we can see “Anak Krakatau” continues to expand, having increased in size by about 5 inches per week since the 1950s.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Semeru is a highly active stratovolcano, and at 3676 m is the tallest mountain on the island of Java, Indonesia.

Semeru has reportedly been in a state of almost continuous eruption since 1967, and was clearly not having a day off on the day that these truly stunning images were taken.

(Wikipedia, aerial photo)

Thanks to TexasAndroid.

It’s Volcano Week 3 here at GSS, which explains why all of our posts over the course of the week are very likely to be volcano related.

Mount Tambora is an active volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, which is noted for the largest and deadliest volcanic eruption in recorded history.

The eruption occurred in 1815, and could allegedly be heard from over 2000 km away. Lasting 5 days, the volcanic activity removed 1500 m of the volcano’s height, sent 2.5 million tons of ash into the air, and left a 7 km wide caldera behind.

The massive amount of extra dust in the atmosphere actually caused the temperature to fall worldwide, and 1816 became known as the Year Without a Summer, when crops and livestock died in much of the northern hemisphere – resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century.

Some 10,000 people are thought to have died directly as a result of the eruption, but factoring in the related famine and disease brings the total to at least 71,000 deaths.

You can read more about Mount Tambora and the Volcanic Explosivity Index on Wikipedia.

Thanks to Tim, Paul Drye, and Pedro Cristian.

It’s Island Week 3 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting about Islands. It’ll probably last about a week.

Here in the Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra, Indonesia there is a tiny, seemingly unnamed, almost totally-forested island.

The only thing on this island, other than trees, is a mysterious, lonely white monument. But what is it?

Our mystery island is just to the south of the much larger island of Hilibafunua (about which I have failed to find anything interesting), but north of the even larger Siberut – an island that is home to a 1,905 km² National Park and inhabited by the Mentawai, a tribe of hunter-gatherers who like to sharpen their teeth.

Our mystery monument hasn’t been posted on the Google Earth Forums (it would show up in the Google Earth Community layer in Google Earth if it had), and I can’t find any reference to it on the web, at least not in English.

So, who can tell us what this is, or even better, locate a photograph of it?

Thanks to Smiglo.

This is the Sidoarjo Mud Flow, a massive eruption of gas and hot torrential mud in East Java, Indonesia.

Despite a network of dams and barriers having been erected to contain the flood, as of February 2007 the mud was up to 10 m thick, with an estimated volume of 12 million cubic metres. The enormous quantity of mud has so far buried 4 villages and 25 factories, some of which you can see here, barely protruding above the surface.

Although the mud flow is one of many Mud Volcanoes found worldwide, this particularly devastating eruption is actually the result of nearby gas exploration. The drilling activity evidently triggered an “underground blow out” which apparently could have been prevented if the proper safety procedures had been observed.

The oil and gas exploration company deemed culpable for this, one of Indonesia’s worst ever industrial disasters, will be responsible for financing the repairs and compensating the victims (if they don’t manage to weasel out of it that is). Additionally, thirteen executives and engineers now face criminal charges.

Various ideas have been posited that might staunch the flow of mud (or alternatively put it to some use), however so far, all attempts to stop it have failed. Have a look at this photo from a couple of weeks ago¹ to see how much further the mud has spread – and it’s believed that it will keep flowing for years to come.

Read more at Wikipedia. Thanks to Adrian.