On December 29, 1927 debris began spouting out of the ocean surface above the collapsed

caldera of Krakatoa. The debris continued to spout till finally on January 26, 1928 the rim
of a new volcanic cone emerged from below sea level. Indeed, after 44 years of silence
Krakatoa began erupting anew giving birth to Anak Krakatoa, the child of Krakatoa,
which has been erupting steadily ever since. To this day the many eruptions of Anak
Krakatoa have been mild and expanded the island to base of 2km and over 200m above sea
level. Today you may go to the Sundra Straits and step foot on young volcano's rim. And
perhaps there as you look across the sea to the coasts of Java and Sumatra you may be able
to feel, ever so slightly, the power of the awesome events that took place there just over a
century ago.

http://www.earlham.edu/~bubbmi/krakatoa.htm

Brown and almost barren, Anak Krakatau rises out of the Sunda Strait, the narrow band of the
Indian Ocean that separates the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. This detailed image of
the young volcano was taken by the Ikonos satellite on June 11, 2005. The volcano’s circular
crater sits southwest of the center of the island and is surrounded by fresh lava flows and ash.
The black shores of the island are scalloped where the flows have solidified in the ocean.

Anak Krakatau emerged from the sea less than 80 years ago, and is a natural laboratory to watch
the development of an ecosystem. Since the soil is new, it was uncontaminated with seeds. All of
the plants seen growing on the island came from seeds that drifted in on the sea or blew across
the ocean on the wind. As a result, the plants are clumped on the shallowly sloped eastern shores
of the volcano where loose ash and volcanic sand cover the ground. In contrast to the solid rock
seen elsewhere on the island, these loose soils allow plants to take root easily.

Most of the plants seen here are grasses, ferns, and herbs that blew in on the wind or coastal trees
like coconut, shrubs, and ground vines that floated ashore. Inland, clumps of plants are probably
Australian Pine trees and a wild plant related to the sugar cane, both of which disperse seeds on
the wind. To learn more, see Wild Indonesia: Birth of an Island, on PBS.

This strip of ocean was not empty before the island pushed its way up. Phoenix-like, Anak
Krakatau rose from the crater left when its parent, Krakatau, disappeared in one of the most
notorious volcanic eruptions in history. Over a two-day period, August 26-27, 1883, Krakatau
erupted with such violence that two-thirds of the island, about 23 square kilometers, sank into the
Sunda Strait. Prior to that date, the Krakatau volcano peaked 450 meters above sea level; after
the eruption, the top of the volcano sat 250 meters below sea level. Anak Krakatau, which means
“child of Kratatau,” replaced the craters destroyed in the 1883 eruption.

The explosions heard in the 1883 eruption remain the loudest noise on human record. The sound
was heard across the Indian Ocean, as far away as Rodriguez Island, 4,653 kilometers to the
west, and Australia, 3,450 kilometers to the east. The massive eruption also generated a series of
tsunamis, which produced waves as much as 30 meters tall. In contrast, the December 26
tsunami that devastated the region in 2004 reached up to 20 meters in height in a few locations.
The huge waves created when Krakatau erupted were responsible for most of the 36,000 deaths
associated with the eruption.

Like most of the approximately 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, Krakatau was formed along
the Sunda Arc, a 3,000-kilometer-long curve where the Australia Plate sinks beneath the Eurasia
Plate. Where these two sections of the Earth’s crust meet, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
common. Krakatau and the Sunda Strait sit at the hinge of the curve between Sumatra and Java,
making this a region particularly prone to geologic activity.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16960

CLIMATE EFFECTS OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

THE OZONE, GREENHOUSE, AND HAZE EFFECTS

There is considerable debate on the role that humans play in changing global climate through both the
burning of fossil fuels and the release of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases. Some argue that human
interaction poses less of a threat to our atmosphere than do natural processes, like volcanic eruptions.
This places a great deal of importance on understanding the role of volcanic eruptions in affecting global
climate change. Whatever the source, it is apparent that compositional changes in the earth's atmosphere
generate three principal climatic effects:

THE OZONE EFFECT:

Intense sunlight in the stratosphere (above 12 km) produces bluish colored

ozone (O3) by naturally breaking down normal oxygen molecules (O2) into two
highly reactive oxygen atoms (O). Each oxygen atom then quickly bonds with an
oxygen molecule to form ozone. Ozone absorbs UV radiation, and in the process
ozone is changed back into an oxygen molecule and an oxygen atom. A balance
exists in ozone destruction and production, so that an equilibrium concentration
exists in the stratosphere. This equilibrium has probably existed throughout much
of geologic time. Recently, however, an ozone hole has been detected in the
stratosphere over Antarctica, presumably due to the atmospheric build up of
ozone-destroying CFCs by humans. Ozone depletion has resulted in a greater
penetration of ultraviolet radiation on the earth's surface, which is harmful to life on earth because it
damages cellular DNA. The ozone effect does not appear to have a direct influence on global
temperatures.

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT:

Certain gases, called greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide and

water vapor; but also methane, N2O, and CFCs), allow short
wavelength radiation from the sun (UV and visible light) to penetrate
through the lower atmosphere to the earth's surface. These same
gases, however, absorb long wavelength radiation (infrared), which is the energy the earth reradiates
back into space. The trapping of this infrared heat energy by these greenhouse gases results in global
warming. Global warming has been evident since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Most
scientists attribute global warming to the release of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels.

THE HAZE EFFECT:

Suspended particles, such as dust and ash, can

block out the earth's sunlight, thus reducing solar
radiation and lowering mean global temperatures.
The haze effect often generates exceptionally red
sunsets due to the scattering of red wavelengths by
submicron-size particles in the stratosphere and
upper troposphere.

KRAKATAU (1883) -- Eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatau in August 1883 generated twenty
times the volume of tephra released by the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Krakatau was the second
largest eruption in history, dwarfed only by the eruption of neighboring Tambora in 1815 (see above). For
months after the Krakatau eruption, the world experienced unseasonably cool weather, brilliant sunsets,
and prolonged twilights due to the spread of aerosols throughout the stratosphere. The brilliant sunsets
are typical of atmospheric haze. The unusual and prolonged sunsets generated considerable
contemporary debate on their origin.They also provided inspiration for artists who dipicted the vibrant
nature of the sunsets in several late 19th-century paintings, two of which are noted here.

In London, the Krakatau sunsets

were clearly distinct from the
familiar red sunsets seen through
the smoke-laden atmosphere of the
city. This is demonstrated in the
painting shown here of a sunset The vivid red sky in Edvard
from the banks of the Thames Munch's painting "The Scream"
River, created by artist William was inspired by the vibrant
Ascroft on November 26, 1883. twilights in Norway, his native
land.

http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/climate_effects.html
Volcanoes affect the earth's climate in several ways. Explosive volcanic eruptions spew large clouds of
volcanic dust and gases that form aerosols (gaseous suspension of fine solid or liquid particles) in the
earth's atmosphere. The clouds of volcanic dust eventually disperse to form a thin dust shield around the
globe. The dust cools the earth by increasing the earth's albedo (ability to reflect radiation), allowing less
of the sun's energy to reach the earth's surface. Aerosols of erupted gases reach the stratosphere and
absorb solar radiation. Following the eruption of Krakatoa, incoming solar radiation decreased 25
percent and remained 10 percent below normal for about three years.

Volcanoes produce large volumes of carbon dioxide, water vapor, carbon monoxide, nitrogen and sulfur
dioxide, and lesser volumes of other gases. In fact, most of the gases of our atmosphere and the water of
the hydrosphere were contributed by volcanoes over the life span of the earth. Fumes emitted by
individual volcanoes for decades can contribute more gases to the atmosphere than all of the coal
burning power plants of a metropolitan area. However, the overall fraction of gases emitted is less than
industrial contributions.

The cooling effects of volcanic eruptions are short term, however, and seldom lasting for more than a
decade. In fact, long-term cooling effects are negligible because large amounts of carbon dioxide are
added to the atmosphere by volcanoes, and carbon dioxide is the major contributor to the greenhouse
effect. For instance, the Miocene Epoch, about 26 million years ago, was a period of intense vulcanism,
yet it was noticeably warmer than at present.

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/cc/cc6.htm