Mount Tambora eruption

The massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island killed tens of thousands and injected aerosols into the atmosphere, contributing to global cooling in 1816.

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Volcanic explosivity index: A scale that classifies volcanic eruptions by erupted volume, plume height, and other measures of explosiveness. Tambora’s eruption is commonly rated VEI 7, among the largest eruptions in recorded history.
Year Without a Summer: The unusually cold and wet Northern Hemisphere summer of 1816, associated with volcanic aerosols from Tambora. It was the most visible climate consequence of Tambora’s eruption the following year.
Mount Tambora: An active stratovolcano on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia, whose summit collapsed during its 1815 eruption. The eruption takes its name from this volcano and its dramatic summit collapse.
Thomas Stamford Raffles: British colonial administrator who governed Java during the Napoleonic Wars and collected reports about Tambora’s eruption. His correspondence helped preserve early accounts of the event and its effects.
Stratospheric aerosol: Suspended particles and droplets in the stratosphere that can alter the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. Sulfur-rich gases from Tambora formed aerosols that helped cool the planet.
1816 climate anomalies: Unusual cold, frost, and precipitation reported across parts of the Northern Hemisphere in 1816. These regional conditions show how global cooling affected everyday weather.
Sumbawa: An Indonesian island in the Lesser Sunda chain, east of Lombok. Tambora’s eruption devastated communities on this island.
Sigee volcano: A volcanic center on Sumbawa associated with the Tambora complex. Geological evidence from the surrounding volcanic landscape helps reconstruct Tambora’s eruptive history.
Volcanic winter: A period of unusually cool climate caused by volcanic material reducing sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. This broader phenomenon links Tambora’s atmospheric effects to the cooling that followed.
Tambora famine: Food shortages and famine in parts of Europe and Asia in 1816–1817, worsened by crop failures after the eruption. The eruption’s climate effects contributed to harvest losses and severe hunger.