On April 10, 1815, the Tambora Volcano produced the largest eruption
in history. An estimated 150 cubic kilometers of tephra—exploded rock
and ash—resulted, with ash from the eruption recognized at least 1,300
kilometers away to the northwest. While the April 10 eruption was
catastrophic, historical records and geological analysis of eruption
deposits indicate that the volcano had been active between 1812 and
1815. Enough ash was put into the atmosphere from the April 10 eruption
to reduce incident sunlight on the Earth’s surface and cause global
cooling, resulting in the 1816 “year without a summer.”
This detailed astronaut photograph depicts the summit caldera of the
volcano. The huge caldera—6 kilometers in diameter and 1,100 meters
deep—formed when Tambora’s estimated 4,000-meter-high peak was removed,
and the magma chamber below emptied during the April 10 eruption. Today
the crater floor is occupied by an ephemeral freshwater lake, recent
sedimentary deposits, and minor lava flows and domes emplaced during
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Layered tephra deposits are
visible along the northwestern crater rim. Active fumaroles, or steam
vents, still exist in the caldera.
In 2004, scientists discovered the remains of a village, and two
adults buried under approximately 3 meters of ash in a gully on
Tambora’s flank—remnants of the former Kingdom of Tambora preserved by
the 1815 eruption that destroyed it. The similarity of the Tambora
remains to those associated with the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius has led to the Tambora site’s description as “the Pompeii of the East.”
Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-6563
was acquired on June 3, 2009, with a Nikon D3 digital camera fitted
with an 800 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations
experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space
Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 20 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program
supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that
will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make
those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken
by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSC.
- Instrument:
- ISS - Digital Camera