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Krakatau volcano eruptions

Caldera 813 m (2,667 ft.) / Anak Krakatau: 189 m
Sunda Strait, Indonesia, -6.1°S / 105.42°E
Eruption list: 1530, 1680-81, 1684, 1883 (Plinian eruption), 1927-30, 1931-32, 1932-34, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938-40, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1946-47, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1958-59, 1959-63, 1965(?), 1969(?), 1972-73, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007-8, April 2009-early 2010, Oct 2010 - March 2011, July-Oct 2011, Jan-May + Sep 2012, 2015(?), 2017, 2018 (22 Dec eruption & tsunami), 2019-ongoing


NASA satellite image of the Sunda Strait, Indonesia
NASA satellite image of the Sunda Strait, Indonesia
NASA satellite image of the island group of Krakatau.
NASA satellite image of the island group of Krakatau.
Close-up of Anak Krakatau volcanic island, with its recent lava flows well visible.
Close-up of Anak Krakatau volcanic island, with its recent lava flows well visible.

Krakatoa - the world's most infamous volcano

The island group of Krakatoa (or Krakatau) lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.  Krakatoa is infamous for its violent Plinian eruption in 1883, that destroyed the previous volcanic edifice and enlarged its caldera.
Collapse of the former volcanic edifice, perhaps in 416 AD, had formed a 7-km-wide caldera.  Remnants of this ancestral volcano are preserved in Verlaten and Lang Islands; subsequently Rakata, Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes were formed, coalescing to create the pre-1883 Krakatoa island.  Caldera collapse during the catastrophic 1883 eruption destroyed Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes, and left only a remnant of Rakata volcano. 
This eruption, the 2nd largest in Indonesia during historical time (the most violent being the eruption of Tambora in 1815), caused more than 36,000 fatalities, most as a result of devastating tsunamis that swept the adjacent coastlines of Sumatra and Java.  Pyroclastic surges traveled 40 km across the Sunda Strait and reached the Sumatra coast.  After a quiescence of less than a half century, the post-collapse cone of Anak Krakatoa ("Child of Krakatoa") was constructed within the 1883 caldera at a point between the former cones of Danan and Perbuwatan.  Anak Krakatau has been the site of frequent eruptions since 1927.


(adapted from GVP)


West Java (Indonesia)
Krakatau Volcano Special
expedition to study & observe Anak Krakatau volcano and its activity
3 -7 days - Easy
Price 1340 € $£¥
Custom and group dates
Wed, 29 Nov 2023, 15:00

Krakatau volcano (Sunda Strait) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 22 November-28 November 2023 (Continuing Activity)

PVMBG issued four Volcano Observatory Notices for Aviation (VONAs) on 26 November describing ash plumes from Krakatau rising as high as 1 km above the summit and drifting NW and NE. Webcam images showed incandescent material being ejected above the vent. There were 12 VONAs issued on 27 November; white-and-gray ash plumes that were sometimes dense rose as high as 1.5 km and drifted NE and NW. ... Read all
Krakatau erupting on May 27, 1883. From Symons, G., 1888, The Eruption of Krakatau and Subsequent phenomena: Reports of the Krakatau Committee of the Royal Society, Trubner, London.
Krakatau erupting on May 27, 1883. From Symons, G., 1888, The Eruption of Krakatau and Subsequent phenomena: Reports of the Krakatau Committee of the Royal Society, Trubner, London.
Spectacular explosion in Oct 2018
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