Volcanic eruptions can change the planets climate.
The aerosol layer reflected the radiation from the sun back into space, producing a worldwide chilling effect.
The following year was one of the coldest in recorded history.
The eruption of Mount Tambora was the most powerful volcanic eruption humans ever witnessed.
The mountain that originally had a peak of 4,300 meters collapsed to only 2,850 meters.
The consequences of the eruption was disastrous.
The pumice ash that fell into the sea formed rafts up to five kilometers across.
The caldera of Mount Tambora.
Photo:NASA
The immediate aftermath of the eruption was famine as a result of destruction of crops.
This was accompanied by all kinds of disease, especially diarrhea due to the drinking of polluted water.
The famine was so serious that people in Sumbawa were reduced to eating dry leaves and poisonous tubers.
Many sold their children just to obtain rice.
About 48,000 people were killed on Sumbawa and 44,000 on Lombok.
Tens of thousands fled to Java, Bali and South Sulawesi to escape hunger.
The effect of the eruption was not limited to Indonesia.
Unseasonably cold weather killed trees, rice and animals even as far north as China and Tibet.
Floods destroyed many remaining crops.
In Taiwan, which has a tropical climate, snow was reported in many cities.
1816 summer temperature anomaly (C) with respect to 1971-2000 climatology.
Cold weather ruined most agricultural crops in North America leading to rising prices.
The damp and the dark year of 1816 stimulated macabre and dim imaginings.
Mary Shelley came up with her lurid tale ofFrankenstein, and John Polidori wroteThe Vampyre.
Humphreys of the US meteorological office.
Inside the caldera of Tambora.
