1816: The Year Without A Summer

Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815. Humankind faced one of history's biggest geological events the next year. Some scientists think Mount Tambora's eruption was 10 times as mighty as Krakatau in 1883.Mount Tambora's eruption was ten times as mighty.It was as mighty as Krakatau in 1883.

A while passed before the world felt Tambora's effects. The Napoleonic Wars hit Europe. The United States built a new nation. The Chinese Qing Dynasty pursued an aggressive resettlement plan.

As the huge ash plume moved across the world, it did something.The ash plume put pressure on entire communities..

Analysts disagree on the exact number of lives lost from Mount Tambora's eruption.Mount Tambora's eruption.Conservative estimates suggest about 10,000 people died in the initial eruption. Another 70,000 people died in the months that followed.

TheThe largest volcanic event in modern history., the 1815 burst got a Volcanic Explosivity Index of seven on an eight-point scale.

A three-degree temperature drop might not seem huge, but this weather change had wide-reaching effects in 1816.Wide-reaching consequences followed.In 1816, the ash cloud reached the stratosphere. This cloud reflected sunlight, cooling the Earth.

The wind changed weather systems and increased rain across much of the northern hemisphere.

The best-known Irish Potato Famine happened between 1845 and 1849. Still, many primary sources claim potato famines hit the country in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mount Tambora's eruption caused an eight-week rainy period in Ireland.

Local crops failed as a result, causing famine and a typhus epidemic from 1816 to 1819. Roughly 100,000 people perished.The eruption likely led to a typhus epidemic.from 1816 to 1819. About 100,000 people died.

The Mount Tambora event started a new strain of cholera.Millions succumbed to a strain of cholera originating in Bengal.Millions succumbed to cholera.. This form mutated because the Bay of Bengal's weather changed and the soil chemistry shifted. The population could not fight the microbe that attacked the immune system; the disease spread fast across Asia.

By the century's end, the whole world felt cholera's effects. It claimed millions of lives.

Napoleon Bonaparte seemed unstoppable at his peak. He crossed Europe and ruled most of the continent briefly. But the Mount Tambora eruption proved more disruptive than Bonaparte.

The eruption sent ash, rain, and freezing temperatures through Europe.Hardly anyone was ready for these effects; food stores were low.Napoleonic Wars left Europe ill-prepared for famine; food stores were low for these effects.

Many European nations needed American imports to avoid hunger because conflict messed up farming.

While the eruption affected people everywhere, the most striking results happened closer to the volcano. For example, the annual Indian monsoons slowed, causing effects like the cholera epidemic that began in Bengal.Sulfate disrupted monsoons in South Asia for three years, the most dramatic consequences.occurred closer to the volcano. For instance, the annual Indian monsoons slowed, leading to a dizzying array of effects like the cholera epidemic that started in Bengal.

Mount Tambora also released a large amount of sulfate. Historian Gillen D'Arcy Wood explained its impact:

Tambora injected massive sulfate gases into the stratosphere. This made an aerial dust cloud up to 100 cubic kilometers big. The plume circled Earth at the equator in weeks. It then drifted poleward, messing up major weather systems for nearly three years.

The volcano did not cause a huge temperature drop in the Arctic. Instead, a strange mix forced warm winds north. Arctic ice melted, making new routes into the uncharted frozen landscape.uncharted frozen landscape.

The British Navy sought a northern passage. They planned several Arctic expeditions. Captain John Ross led the first one, launched in 1818. The expedition reached the north, but weather patterns had settled. The path vanished.

Later years, British explorers and other nations kept launching Arctic journeys.

Mount Tambora caused severe problems in China's Yunnan province. Unseasonal cold and rain ruined the yearly rice harvest. Desperate farmers switched to poppies, a crop that yields opium.

One of thedefining economic conflictsThe Chinese opium trade caused major rebellions in the 1800s, costing thousands of lives. It also created the modern "Golden Triangle" for opium production.opium productionin Southeast Asia.

Scholars have not proven Thomas Jefferson saw a link between the collapse of his crops and the Mount Tambora eruption. Still, Jefferson felt the volcano's effects. Like many U.S. farmers, Jefferson faced financial peril in the Year Without a Summer.collapse of his cropsthe eruption at Mount Tambora. However, he felt the volcano's effects. Like many farmers in the United States, Jefferson faced financial peril in the Year Without a Summer.financial perilin the Year Without a Summer.

Failed wheat crops forced him to seek a loan to survive.

In the summer of 1816, Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley traveled to Lake Geneva with friends. Bad weather trapped them inside. They shared ghost stories.

Lord Byron challenged Mary to tella scary ghost story; she refused. That night, she could not sleep and had a vision she later described:

I saw with shut eyes, but sharp mental vision. I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling next to the thing he built. I saw a hideous phantom of a man stretched out, and then, from the working of some powerful engine, signs of life appeared...

Mary's vision inspired her to write the famous novel,Frankenstein.

Young composer Franz Schubert faced issues in 1816. His hero, Goethe, rejected him, and he got only one commission all year. Some music historians think Schubert's sad music came from Seasonal Affective Disorder caused by the dark summer of 1816.Schubert's melancholy outputwas a direct result of Seasonal Affective Disorder brought on by the dark summer of 1816.

Weather depressed the musician, but it did not stop him. During 1816, Schubert composed two symphonies and many other musical pieces, such as chorales, lieder, and chamber music.

The planet hosts an estimated Twenty active supervolcanoes exist.These massive magma deposits hold great power; some landforms might prove stronger than Mount Tambora. Most supervolcanoes can erupt anytime without a trigger or earthquake.

Lava emissions happen about once every 100,000 years, and these events significantly affect the climate.