Two years of volcanically imposed winter would wreak havoc with world food supply and economies. Not likely, but now realistically possible.
As an emergency hedge I long have had 20 kilo bags of dry beans, rice, and ground flours of various wheat and maiz, and lots of cans of stuff, and I am ready to quintuple my stores if Krakatoa keeps getting more exciting…..
Always wonderful to watch from afar.
Maybe, but if it weren’t named Krakatoa we probably wouldn’t be hearing about it.
Most of us remember the Pinatubo eruption back in 1991 (which was 1000 times stronger than the V3 now) and Mount St. Helens (V3, 1980) but not many more than that.
DB2
We could use another Pinatubo event. It resulted in the Earth cooling about 2C (as I recall) for two or three years. We need that.
Of course, the people near that sort of eruption don’t need it. 1poorlady was living in the Philippines at the time. Raining ash, and dark skies (and that was over 50 miles away).
At some point one of the super volcanoes is going to pop. That will alter civilization. Crop failures, colder temps, who knows how air travel will be affected, as well as communications. Whatever country hosts that volcano may cease to exist as anyone near it will die, whatever agriculture they have will be under meters of ash, and basic services are almost certain to break down. Your portfolio likely will be worthless, and there’s a decent chance the SS checks won’t get mailed out.
I forget whom I was speaking with, but he posited that three days of not being able to flush your toilet would lead to societal collapse.
I believe Krakatau is still the biggest eruption since the human age. The sound could be heard from something like 1000 miles away. Well, there was Santorini. I guess that qualifies as the human age. Bronze Age, if I’m remembering right. Some say that eruption inspired some of the myths in the bible (like the parting/recession of the Red Sea, some of the plagues, etc).
Krakatoa’s Big Bang circled the Earth.
GoogleAI:
The cataclysmic 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano produced an atmospheric pressure wave so immense that it circled the entire planet seven times before dissipating. [1, 2]
When the Indonesian island volcano experienced its final massive blast on August 27, 1883, it unleashed what is widely considered the loudest sound in recorded human history. The explosion was heard over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away, with people in Australia and Rodriguez Island mistaking it for heavy gunfire. [1, 2, 3, 4]
While human ears could no longer detect the sound after a few thousand miles, the acoustic energy transitioned into an invisible, low-frequency shockwave. For five days following the eruption, sensitive barometers at weather stations in over 50 cities worldwide registered sharp spikes in air pressure roughly every 34 hours—the time it takes for sound to circumnavigate the globe. In total, the wave traveled around the Earth three to four times in each direction, creating a total of seven recorded passes over any given point on the globe. [1, 2, 3, 4]
How much energy can Krakatoa have accumulated since the 1883 eruption, just 143 years?
GoogleAI:
Krakatoa does not function like a closed battery that quietly stores up total explosive energy over time; instead, it constantly releases heat and magma through frequent smaller eruptions at its active child cone, Anak Krakatau. [1, 2]
How the Energy System Works
- Continuous Release: Subduction beneath the Sunda Strait continually feeds magma into the chamber, but active conduits allow gas and lava to vent regularly rather than trapping pressure indefinitely. [1, 2, 3]
- Rebuilding Phase: Since emerging in 1927, Anak Krakatau has grown at an average rate of about 4 meters per year, adding roughly 0.002 cubic kilometers of material annually. [1, 2, 3]
- Frequent Eruptions: Rather than saving energy for 143 years for a single massive blast, the system frequently bleeds off energy through ongoing Strombolian and sub-plinian activity. [1, 2]
Comparing the 1883 Blast
- 1883 Output: The historic cataclysm released roughly 10^18 joules (equivalent to about 200 megatons of TNT).
- Current Capacity: Because the system is open and leaking, it does not hold a cumulative equivalent of past mega-explosions; small eruptions continuously discharge the incoming tectonic energy.
- Explore historical data and current status updates at the Global Volcanism Program. [1, 2, 3]
That’s a relief!
The Captain
It resulted in a drop of about 0.5°C. Interestingly, because the eruption resulted in more diffuse light, it may have increased photosynthesis.
Pinatubo, Diffuse Light and the Carbon Cycle
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I’ll take half a degree and increased photosynthesis.
Let 'er rip! (In an uninhabited area, of course.)
The eruption last year underwater didn’t affect climate hardly at all, because all the debris was contained by the ocean. Apparently just lots of steam resulted in the atmosphere. Based on what I’ve read. So, evidently, we need a land-based eruption to result in any cooling.
Yes, of course. You want some stuff in the atmosphere to prevent as much sunlight coming thru, but not so much as to block out too much sun, else you get “the year without summer” as happened in 1816 (Mt Tambora eruption in 1815). That one caused widespread famines across the planet as crops failed and there were food riots in many cities.
So be careful what you wish for. (A volcanic eruption can also release huge amounts of sulphur dioxide which, since I don’t breathe it regularly, it not something I would look forward to.)
FWIW, it is the sulphur dioxide (==> sulfuric acid) that is responsible for the cooling effect the following year.
Also, in order to have a significant effect the eruption must be in the tropics rather than, say, the Aleutian Islands.
The 2022 Tonga eruption did, however, result in a lot of extra water vapor injected into the stratosphere. This was partly responsible for the high global temps in 2024.
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