The volcanic island of Krakatau (previously called Krakatoa) is situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a cataclysmic 1883 eruption.
In 1927, a new island, Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa”, emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 and is the current location of eruptive activity.
In the NASA photos below, you can see some stunning images of the volcano as it’s been stirring to life again
September 24, 2018
September 22, 2018
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired the wide view (top) on September 24. The MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) on the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 acquired the detailed image (second) on September 22. Both images show volcanic ash and steam streaming southwest over the waters of the Sunda Strait.
Local sources reported that this eruption has been ongoing since June 19, 2018. Ash plumes have been observed rising to altitudes up to 1.8 kilometers (6,000 feet). As of September 24, the eruption had not yet affected air travel in southeast Asia, according to news reports. The local alert status remained at “caution,” which is the second-highest level.
Activity at the Indonesian volcano Anak Krakatau is not unusual; eruptions have occurred sporadically over the past few decades. And before that, it was the site of the infamous, deadly eruption of 1883. It is somewhat unusual, however, for satellites to get cloud-free views, as they did in September 2018.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018) processed by the European Space Agency. ISS Photograph by Alex Gerst, European Space Agency/NASA. Story by Kathryn Hansen.
A triple whammy if this goes off, Katla goes off and we hit a new solar minimum. Too bad all the excess CO2 we’ve been able to add into the atmosphere, plus that emitted by the volcanoes, won’t help by more than a few tenths of a degree.
Anak Krakatau has been growing steadily and is now getting on to about a thousand feet in height but is likely a few hundred years or so from a repeat of its little misbehaviour of 1883 – hopefully.
The Smithsonian runs an excellent volcano watch website with lots of pretty pictures of volcanoes which is useful for keeping up to date on current eruptions and rumblings – worth a look.
“Child of Krakatoa” … like father, like son .. apple doesn’t fall far from the tree .. a chip off the old block
Records are sketchy, but there is evidence of one, possibly two, catastrophic explosion of Krakatoa before the historical one of 1883, spaced a few hundred years apart.
All those years hearing references to “Krakatoa, east of Java” as the worst quake ever. Hopefully nota repeat.
Apparently Iceland’s Katla is becoming restless too.
I blame Brett …
I request that Katla and Krakatoa and other volcanoes just hold off for a few more years, because if you erupt (like, I mean, y’know, bigly) you are going to ruin my experiment.
In an article I wrote published on 1Sept2002 (we) predicted global cooling would happen between 2020 and 2030. I’m now leaning closer to 2020 or even earlier, so please be patient. I think the quiet Sun will demonstrate that it has a much greater impact on global temperature than increasing atmospheric CO2.
In a cooling period, there may even be some reversals of the gradual increase in atmospheric CO2. This happened before during the last global cooling period from ~1940 to ~1977.
Notes:
Annualized Mauna Loa dCO2/dt has “gone negative” a few times in the past (calculating dCO2/dt from monthly data, by taking CO2MonthX (year n+1) minus CO2MonthX (year n) to minimize the seasonal CO2 “sawtooth”.)
These 12-month periods when CO2 decreased are (Year and Month ending in):
1959-8
1963-9
1964-5
1965-1
1965-5
1965-6
1971-4
1974-6
1974-8
1974-9
Modern CO2 data collection at Mauna Loa started in ~1958.
Let’s not forget this puppy (and my new measuring unit for CO2 .. the Katla):
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/09/20/icelands-monster-volcano-charging-up-for-eruption/
There is also a theory that volcanoes tend to be more active during solar minimums. If we get a couple of these to blow during the next couple of years, I’m going out and buying a whole lot of freeze dried food. All we need is a couple of years without a summer and there are going to be a whole lot of hungry people in the world.
One of the great, early, disaster films, Krakatoa East of Java.
Hope we don’t relive that.
Anyone want to start a pool on how long before “climate change” is blamed?
Note that this is the second post about Krakatau this year, see https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/07/19/worrying-child-of-krakatau-volcano-stirs-to-life-in-the-pacific/
Note also that the hand wringing is mostly in the comments.
Dinna fash yersel! Cagar Alam Krakatau is a national park. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQxm-KMgnG8
Bring forth the cosmic rays.
It’s all the fault of man-made CO2, anyway.