A unique eruption. The tragedy of the Krakatoa eruption The eruption led to a decrease in air temperatures around the world for several years

At the end of our trip to Indonesia in the summer of 2013, we went to a place that is known for its, without exaggeration, terrible history: On August 26, 1883, a volcanic eruption began on the island of Krakatoa, which became one of the greatest in modern history....

The Krakatoa volcano is located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java. This is the place on the map :

Until 1883, Krakatoa was a complete volcanic island with an area of ​​approximately 10 km, and its highest point reached 2000 meters. By this time, the island already had a bad reputation due to its violent eruptions. For example, in 535 there was an eruption that led to global climate change throughout the world! And according to some sources, it was then that the Sunda Strait was formed, which divided one large island into Java and Sumatra.

By 1883, 3 craters Rakata, Danan and Perbuatan had formed on the island. From May to August 26, 1883, the volcano showed its activity more than once, as if warning people of danger. At night, from August 26 to 27, a rumble began to be heard from underground, which eventually became so strong that even in Jakarta (200 km from Krakatoa) people could not sleep at night! And then there was an explosion of incredible power. The debris of the exploded mountain rose to a height of up to 80 km, ash fell over an area of ​​more than 4 million km²!! This explosion caused powerful waves up to 30 meters in height, and one of the tsunamis circled the WHOLE globe. As a result of this eruption, hundreds of cities, villages and settlements were destroyed, and the number of human casualties reached 40 thousand people.
After the eruption, the topography of the seabed in the strait changed; in place of the island of Krakatoa, only a small part of the Rakata volcano and two islets of Sertung and Panjang remained.
But despite the colossal the destruction of the volcano itself did not die. And in 1927, after an underwater eruption, a new volcano, the Son of Krakatau (Anak Krakatau), rose 9 meters from under the water. Since its birth, the volcano has grown by about 13 cm per week; today its height is 813 meters.
The photo below clearly shows the outline of the island of Krakatoa before 1883, in the lower part of the photo are the remains of the Rakata volcano after the eruption and the young Anak Krakatoa growing in the center of the ancient caldera. We can only guess what surprises this fiery baby is preparing for us. In the meantime, we decided to look at it with our own eyes!
We had planned our trip to Krakatoa in advance. We sifted through a lot of information, calculated how many days we would need, but some difficulties still arose along the way.
Our flight from Bali to Java was in the afternoon, and we arrived at Jakarta airport at about 2 p.m. We checked our suitcases into a storage room and grabbed a bite to eat at the local KFC. Then we went to look for a taxi; we needed to get to the village of Charita and the Mutiara Carita hotel. There are many taxi drivers near the airport, the prices are naturally higher at first, but the standard Bali trick “if you don’t want it, then we’ll go to someone else” works here too. As a result, we agreed that they would take us to the place for 450 thousand rupees. The road turned out to be long. The first part of the journey along the toll road went by very quickly. The driver tried to take money from us for traveling along it, but we definitely remembered that this was included in the total fare and did not give him anything) And having turned off the highway onto a road usual for Indonesia, one lane in each direction, we got stuck in a traffic jam , in the end it took five hours, if not more, to travel from Jakarta to Charita.
We arrived, checked in without any problems, but it’s still better to book rooms in advance, at booking, for example, since the Charita area is a popular resort among the Javanese and they come here on vacation, some with a group on tour packages, some with their families, and someone at work. In general, all rooms may be occupied on weekends. The hotel reminded me of our resorts in the Krasnodar region, which have not been renovated since Soviet times. There is a large area here, there are separate houses and one common building, in which we moved in. The rooms are large, spacious, fairly clean - in general, you can live.
Here, at the hotel, we said that we wanted to go to Krakatoa and they very quickly sent us a friend who would organize this excursion. Then there was a very long trading process. Initially, we wanted to go overnight and watch lava fly out of the crater; to this request, a friend announced a price of 7 million rupees (that’s almost $700)! "My friend, my friend"! As a result, we found out that the volcano is actually not erupting now, and it is unlikely that it will do so tomorrow, and we decided to go for one day. They negotiated the price to 4 million, and stopped there, after all, July is high season.
And then we had an incident with the number. I saw mosquitoes, and since they introduced me to dengue fever on one of my trips to Bali, I didn’t want to spend the night in their company. There were no insect sprays in the room, and we asked the local workers to take action... And they did... For some reason I did not react to the strange-looking spray gun from the worker, and left the room to see Dima (he was negotiating on the terrace about a trip to the volcano), and the next time I went into the room, I realized that something irreparable had happened! The employee sprayed gasoline in our room!!! We were shocked, the guy assured us that the smell would soon disappear, but it was clear that this was nonsense and it was impossible to stay in this room overnight! To be fair, I note that at the reception they changed our room without a word. After all this, we had dinner, walked a little around the hotel and went to bed, Anak Krakatau awaits us tomorrow!
In the morning we got up not very early, at about 7 o’clock, and went to have breakfast. One Javanese sat down with us; he really wanted to chat, improve his English and just communicate with white people. The kind of entertainment they have here is that if you see a white person, you should definitely chat with him, or even better, take a photo)) While we were talking, our friend, the guide, came and said that it was time to hit the road!
They brought us a good speed boat, at first I thought that we were going with other tourists, but no, it was just for us! After about 1.5 hours of riding along the ocean waves, in the distance we saw “baby” Krakatoa.
As we approached closer, we could clearly make out the smoke pouring out of the crater. Knowing the history of this place, even being at some distance, you understand that this is not a safe walk, and we still have to climb to the top.

Driving into a peculiar bay formed after the 1883 eruption, you can see the remains of the Rakata volcano. We know that this is only a small part of it. Just imagine that there was a tall volcano here and how it shattered into pieces from an explosion of monstrous force!
The consequences of the disaster can still be seen: on the right side, where the mountain used to rise, there is now only a recess concave inward.

Remains from a large volcano

We headed to the center of the "bay", where Anak Krakatoa literally grows. Our boat first drove around the volcano so that we could see it from all sides. The spectacle is impressive! We were told that the volcano erupts frequently, its coastline is constantly changing, and on the slopes you can see the cooled lava and how it flowed into the ocean!
The closer you get, the more menacing or even menacing he looks.
The smoke comes not only from the crater, it oozes from everywhere from underground.
It feels like the soil is constantly burning.
At the foot of the volcano there are dunes of black volcanic sand mixed with ash and lava.
Looking at these photos, it’s hard to think that you can climb Krakatoa!
Having driven further, we saw that vegetation was appearing on the other side of the volcano crater.
And even further from the “hot spot” a whole forest has already grown! They say that there is even a Komodo dragon, but we didn’t see one.
When we arrived at the landing site, I was upset once again. The island is uninhabited and full of garbage((This shows how badly the world’s oceans are polluted. It’s very sad to see such pictures(
I don't want to look at this disgrace((
Having caught our breath a little, we begin our hike to the volcano. Trekking to Krakatoa is not difficult, the hardest thing is to endure the heat of the daytime sun.
I should immediately note that we walked in flip-flops, the sand was generally hot, but not too much. It seemed to me that it became hotter when we were already descending, maybe the soil just warmed up more by the middle of the day.
But putting something on your head and covering your shoulders is very useful! But since these were the last days of our summer holiday, I tried to enjoy the sun to the fullest!
At first the road passes through the forest, there is shade and it’s pleasant to walk. Our guides go ahead and show the way)
The path then emerges into a fairly steep and open area. You'll have to sweat a little here. The way up is generally not difficult, the main difficulty is that it is very hot in the sun and that you are walking on sand.
The forest gradually thins out and is eventually left behind. And we immediately noticed a lot of cobblestones lying everywhere. Our guides said they flew out of the crater during the eruptions.
Opposite is Rakata.
That's how far we've already come. In the distance is another island, it seems to be Panjang. Perhaps it, too, was once a mountain.
We've climbed! And such a beautiful view from Krakatoa of the ocean, islands and the path along which we walked opened up to us from above.
The climb to Krakatoa is not high, maybe 500 meters, and no one will let you go higher up to the edge of the crater, they say that there are voids and the soil can collapse. The path further runs along the left edge of a large excavation, as I understand it, the soil subsided after the next eruption.
We walked a little along the edge of the gap, towards Rakata. It's very beautiful here too! I couldn’t resist posing)) The heat was getting worse, we decided not to stay in the open sun for long and went down.

From this side of the volcano, traces of eruptions are already more visible. There is lava and stones in the hole.

There are many scorched trees below.

Dima likes such landscapes better)

Then we saw huge holes and broken trees around. It turned out it was from a stone that had recently been thrown out of the crater.

And here is the stone. I would say that this is a piece of a mountain, it is as tall as me and plus huge in width. I wouldn't want to get here during an eruption.

While Dima was photographing all this, I did not waste time)) It became very hot, I wanted to get into the shade as soon as possible! And our guides have long since fled into the forest)

In the forest we found the remains of a seismological station. There used to be similar ones at the top, but now there is nothing left of them. They did not make new ones, and are now monitoring the situation from afar from Sumatra and Java.

After visiting the volcano, near Rakata, you can swim and see fish) It’s certainly not the Red Sea, but it’s very nice after the heat! We had our own masks.

After swimming, on the way back Dima fell asleep sweetly)

Finally, one more look at Krakatoa. By the way, it began to smoke more strongly!

But this is not our entire adventure) While we were returning to the hotel, the weather on the coast had deteriorated, and we thought that there was no point in hanging around here all day and another night. It was decided to go to Jakarta, spend the night there and take a walk to see the city during the day. We asked our friend, who was organizing a trip to Krakatoa, how much it would cost to get from here to Jakarta, and he told us: “one million”! Yes, yes, one million rupees. This is, in general, $100, but we remember that it cost 450 thousand to get here, the road did not increase overnight, and gasoline did not rise in price. What's the matter?! In response to our story that we arrived for 450 thousand, he said that this was impossibil, i.e. impossible) Well, of course, we laughed at him and decided that we would find another car. But it was not there! It turns out there are no taxi drivers (except rickshaws) here; locals either come in their own cars or are taken on tour packages by bus. Taking advantage of this, all the local tour companies that organize excursions really take you to Jakarta for one million! Dima tried to bargain, lowered the price to 800 thousand and that’s it. Here the spirit of contradiction awoke in us) And we decided that ordinary locals somehow get to Jakarta, so we can too! We packed our things and left the hotel, knowing only one thing: we were going to Jakarta!
At first glance, it seems that this is complicated, they asked where the bus was, got on, and went. BUT! Don’t forget that we are in Java, and in a place where foreign tourists don’t come often, and if they do, they don’t wander around the city much) Therefore, no one speaks English, not even a little! And one more thing... We are in Java, so the white man is a marvelous wonder! I don’t know how to convey my feelings when you walk down the street, and everyone, without exception, looks at you with wild surprise! It’s as if a three-meter green alien was walking through Moscow)) Exactly, that’s exactly how I felt :) We went into a store, bought ice cream and water, tried to explain that we needed to go to Jakarta and ask where the bus stop was. Everyone was giggling, and no one really said anything to us. At the exit we came across a man who seemed to be able to connect a couple of English words; from his hand gestures we understood where the stop was, that we first needed to get to the town of Cilegon, and then transfer to a bus to Jakarta. Well, that’s already something! We'll figure it out along the way.
Here our route on the active map:

We were scared a lot that we had to be more careful in Java, this is not Bali, where everyone is good, everyone is evil and terrible. Don’t let your children go for a walk in Africa))) I’ll tell you right away that we didn’t come across a single Barmaley, on the contrary, everyone tried to help in any way they could, give advice (even in Indonesian), smiled and, of course, took pictures with us) The first person to help us was an old, all wrinkled driver rickshaws. He stood near the stop and offered us a taxi) When he realized that we were going to Jakarta, he also named the transfer point, and then stopped the bus we needed and even helped us get there)
By the way, bus is a strong word, it’s more like a tiny minibus, from the outside it looks like a small isuzu minivan. There are no doors, and there are two benches in the back for passengers) We squeezed into this car and drove off. We had to drive for 2 hours! The price of a trip on such a minibus for two was 30 thousand rupees. Moreover, the price for women and men is different, unfortunately, I forgot for whom they pay more and for whom less)) The ride was fun, everyone tried to chat with us, we tried to clarify the route. Dima took pictures of the car from the inside.

Also, as I already wrote, local residents took pictures with us, and we with them)

And then we were lucky, when we passed a large factory, a man who spoke good English got into the minibus, and he was also going to Jakarta! He said: “Don’t worry, we’ll deliver you in the best possible way!” He constantly comes here to work and already knows how to get there quickly, so our route turned out to be a little different. We first changed to another minibus, and then onto a big bus to Jakarta. We sat down on it in some tricky place, as we understood, in front of the bus station and therefore we managed to take seats. We rode this bus for another 2.5 hours. The fare on it was 70 thousand for two. And the road from Charita to Jakarta cost 100 thousand rupees ($10) for two, plus a lot of positive emotions! What a savings!!! On the way we chose a hotel, in Jakarta our friend suggested where to get off, and then we took a taxi to the hotel. What an adventure we had!
To summarize this trip, I would advise those who want to see Krakatoa to rent a car. This can be done at Jakarta International Airport and via the Internet from companies such as Hertz, Avis, etc.

An incredible day on the volcano and a long but interesting road to Jakarta became our final trip this summer in Indonesia. True, our plans for the next day were also a walk around Jakarta. In the meantime, we said goodbye to the amazing nature of the islands, to the Indian Ocean and once again made a wish to definitely return!

p.s. The Discovery Channel made an excellent film about this volcano, with reconstructions of events, etc., you can watch it on YouTube

More from a trip to Indonesia.

On August 27, 1883, at 10 a.m., the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano (Indonesia) threw up rock to a height of 55 km. The ash fell 10 days later at a distance of 5330 km.

Indonesia is part of the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire” (a powerful tectonic fault): the plates that form the floor of the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans go under the Asian plate here. There are hundreds of volcanoes along the entire plate junction (3 thousand 218 kilometers).

The “country of three thousand islands” is the undisputed world record holder for the number of “fire mountains” located on its territory: there are only 129 active ones here. Ocean tectonic plates, under colossal pressure, descend to the mantle of the globe and at a depth of about a hundred kilometers below the surface begin to melt, leading to to eruptions.

In August 1883, the largest archipelago on the planet became the site of the greatest disaster in human history: the Krakatoa volcano, located in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, exploded.

In the Sunda Strait, three small volcanic islands formed a broken ring, which seemed to represent the remains of the edges of a large crater. It was once a huge volcanic cone that rose from the bottom of the sea. Then, probably during a very strong eruption, the volcano collapsed, and only the remains of the walls of its crater in the form of a ring remained visible above the water. On the largest of these ledges a new volcano, Krakatoa, formed. Long-term eruptions of Krakatoa increased the island in volume and height. The island measured 9 by 5 kilometers. Then a period of prolonged dormancy began; the volcano was inactive for almost two hundred years, and it was considered extinct. At the end of the 19th century, the volcano was a fertile and pleasant island to visit, although sparsely populated. Giant sea turtles were caught here, and in villages on the coast spices and rice were grown and sold to sailors.

In 1883, the volcano woke up. Throughout the summer, moderate eruptions occurred, which were harbingers of disaster. On August 26, 1883, in the afternoon, the first explosions began on Krakatoa. Huge columns of fire with smoke, ash and dust rose above the island. From the volcano, cracks spread out in all directions in the soil.

All night until the morning of August 27, explosions and roars continued. Houses on nearby islands collapsed due to tremors. On August 27, at about 10 a.m., a gigantic explosion occurred, and an hour later there was a second explosion of the same force. More than 18 cubic kilometers of rock debris and ash shot up into the atmosphere. The waves of the tsunami caused by the explosions instantly engulfed cities, villages, and forests on the coasts of Java and Sumatra. Many islands disappeared under water along with the population. The tsunami was so powerful that it went around almost the entire planet.

The roar that accompanied the eruption was heard thousands of kilometers away. In total, 295 cities and villages were wiped off the face of the earth on the coasts of Java and Sumatra, over 36 thousand people died, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless. The coasts of Sumatra and Java have changed beyond recognition. On the coast of the Sunda Strait, fertile soil was washed away down to the rocky base.

Only a third of Krakatoa survived. From several fused mountains with an area of ​​about 47 square meters. km that made up the landscape of Krakatoa, only 16 square meters remain. km of surface with a huge crater filled with water. All that remains of the cone of the volcano itself is a sheer wall rising 800 meters above sea level. In place of one island, three were formed.

Several interesting optical phenomena are associated with the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. Soon after the catastrophe, circles called haloes appeared around the Sun, and the light itself acquired an unusual green color, and at times it had a blue tint. At first this was noticeable only near Krakatoa, and then at a considerable distance from it. Scientists explained the peculiar color of the sun by the accumulation of tiny particles of volcanic ash in the upper layers of the atmosphere. At the end of November, a strange celestial glow was observed in Europe, which lasted for three years. During sunset, the rays of the Sun created a purple-diamond glow in the sky.

The products of the Krakatoa eruption consisted mainly of pumice and fine ash. It is believed that their volume reached 18 cubic kilometers. The results of volcanic emissions, lifted by the winds into the upper layers of the atmosphere, created a kind of artificial barrier in the path of the sun's rays and thereby caused a significant cooling of the climate on the planet.

In the place of the volcano that destroyed itself in the 30s of the twentieth century, a new one began to grow - Anak Krakatoa, which in Indonesian means “Son (child) of Krakatoa.” The volcano is growing at a rate of six meters per year.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Krakatoa is a volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, in the province of Lampung. It is worth noting the fact that this province is known for its volcanic instability - in May 2005 there was a strong earthquake (6.4 points), which caused great damage to the province of Lampung. One of the attractions of Lampung province is Tanjung Setia Beach, which is also famous for its unusual and challenging waves for surfers.

Krakatoa is also the name of a group of islands that formed from a larger island (with three volcanic peaks) that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 provoked a gigantic tsunami, people died (according to some sources, about 40,000 people), two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa was destroyed. It is believed that the sound from the eruption was the loudest ever recorded in history - it was heard 4800 km from the volcano, and the giant waves provoked by the eruption were recorded by barographs around the globe. Scientists have calculated that the force of the explosion was 10 thousand times greater than the explosion that destroyed the city of Hiroshima. In 1927, a new island appeared, Anak Krakatoa, which means “child of Krakatoa.”

An underwater eruption occurred at the site of the destroyed volcano, and a new volcano rose 9 meters above the sea a few days later. At first it was destroyed by the sea, but over time, when lava flows poured out in greater quantities than the sea destroyed them, the volcano finally regained its place. This happened in 1930. The height of the volcano changed annually, on average the volcano grew by approximately 7 meters per year. Today, the height of Anak Krakatau is about 813 meters.

Due to the fact that Anak Krakatau is an active volcano, and its status is the second level of alarm (out of four), the Indonesian government has officially prohibited residents from settling closer than 3 km from the island, and an area with a radius of 1.5 km from the crater is closed to tourists and enthusiasts to fish.