# Krakatoa awakens. Newslink **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915 "2009-07-31T21:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/21 "2009-08-03T14:58:47Z")
This is something I found interesting: > [@](#): > > The pressure wave generated by the colossal final explosion radiated from Krakatoa at 1,086 km (675 mi) [3]. It was so powerful that it shattered the eardrums of sailors on ships in the Sunda Strait[4] and caused a spike of more than two and half inches of mercury in pressure gauges attached to gasometers in the Jakarta gasworks, sending them off the scale[5]. The pressure wave radiated across the globe and was recorded on barographs all over the world, which continued to register it up to 5 days after the explosion. Barograph recordings show that the shockwave from the final explosion reverberated around the globe 7 times in total.[2] Almost as loud as a modern rock concert. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/22 "2009-08-03T15:31:20Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > The source of the greatest explosion in the history of the Worldā€¦stirs from its long slumber. > > Article, with photos. > > [http://io9.com/5327021/krakatoa-reawakens-and-the-world-shall-tremble/gallery/](http://io9.com/5327021/krakatoa-reawakens-and-the-world-shall-tremble/gallery/) > Backgroundā€“ > > [1883 eruption of Krakatoa - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa) > Let us hope there will be no repeats of past performances. > [@N9IWP](#): > > But what about [Mount Tambora - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora) Right. Behold the [Volcanic Explosivity Index](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_Explosivity_Index). Note that Krakatoa is a 6. At 7 on the scale are three explosions from historical times: Thera/Santorini (1620-ish BC, but thatā€™s historical), Taupo (new Zealand) in 186 AD, and Tambora in 1815 AD. IMHO one reason major reason Krakatoa is better-known than Tambora is that scientific instruments were more advanced in more widely used by 1883. The Krakatoa article talks about barographs around the world measuring the pressure wave; the Tambora article talks about how far away the sound was heard, not about barographs. Another viewpoint from [an NPR interview](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15691309) ā€“ ā€œthe Krakatau eruption occurred the week after the telegraph was implemented. So Krakatau became the biggest news story.ā€ (Itā€™s unclear what ā€œimplementedā€ means in the above quote.) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/23 "2009-08-03T16:43:20Z")
When I was backpacking across Indonesia, I spent some time in the Calendra of Mt. Batur. It was damn impressively huge - there were as I recall a couple of villages inside the calendra itself. > **[Mount Batur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Batur)** > > Mount Batur (Gunung Batur) is an active volcano located at the center of two concentric calderas north west of Mount Agung on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Also known as the hiding spot of Tarubian Clans. The south east side of the larger 10Ɨ13Ā km caldera contains a caldera lake. Both the larger caldera, and a smaller 7.5Ā km caldera were formed by a collapse of the magma chamber, the first larger collapse taking place about 29,300 years ago, and the second inner caldera collapsing about 20,1 Th... When that went off, it must have been quite the explosion. Iā€™ve tried looking it up on the Internet, but aside from some basic facts I canā€™t discover if anyone has calculated exactly how large an explosion it was. In any event, it must have made Krakatoa look like a firecracker. Is there a vulcanologist in the house? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/24 "2009-08-03T19:14:01Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I knew once they moved the Volcano from east of, to west of Java all the trouble would start. šŸ™‚ > > Didnā€™t Jerry donate money to Kramers ā€œSave the Kratatoansā€ or some charity like that to impress Elaine and the charity was a scamā€¦ > > ā€¦And now back to your regularly scheduled thread. Yes (Iā€™ve been waiting for the Seinfeld linkā€¦I almost put it in myself!) Because of the donation, he got audited: "ELAINE: What are you doing? What is all this? JERRY: Oh, heā€™s, uh, helping me sort my receipts. Iā€™m being audited. ELAINE: Youā€™re being audited? What for? JERRY: Oh, I contributed money to a charity that turned out to be fraudulent. Itā€™s very boring. ELAINE: When was this? JERRY: Uh, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. ELAINE: I remember you donated to some volcano thing on our first date. JERRY: Volcano? Really? ELAINE: Oh, wait a minute. Donā€™t tell me that that was ā€¦ JERRY: Something to drink? ELAINE: What did you think, that would impress me? JERRY: You got it ALL wrong. I was thinking only of the poor Krakatoans ELAINE: Like you made this donation for 50 bucks and Iā€™d start tearing my clothes off? JERRY: Those brave Krakatoans East of Java. who sacrifice so much for so long. ELAINE: Now youā€™re being audited because of it. You see Thatā€™s Karma. JERRY: No, thatā€™s Krama." ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/25 "2009-08-03T19:23:56Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Yikes > > [http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/2009/glance/krakatoa/4.jpg](http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/2009/glance/krakatoa/4.jpg) Yikes, indeed! Surely Iā€™m not the only one who sees a tentacled visage in the center of that photo! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/26 "2009-08-03T20:46:33Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Yikes, indeed! Surely Iā€™m not the only one who sees a tentacled visage in the center of that photo! :eek: I didnā€™t see it, but which one did you mean? Squidward? The FSM? Lioā€™s pet squid? Cthulu? The SDMB initiation officer? Kraken? Bob Marley? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/27 "2009-08-03T20:48:25Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Those are **pre** -History. Pre \*recorded \*history perhaps. Not pre history. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/28 "2009-08-03T21:35:17Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I didnā€™t see it, but which one did you mean? Squidward? The FSM? Lioā€™s pet squid? Cthulu? The SDMB initiation officer? Kraken? Bob Marley? You forgot Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (not to be confused with Davy Jones the teen heartthrob of my youth). But, really, does it matter which tentacled visage it is!!?!! Itā€™s as horrifying as [Lenin in a shower curtain](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/lenin.html)! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/29 "2009-08-04T03:38:24Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > While back packing through South East Asia In the mid seventies, I took a ship from Sumatra to Jakarta in Indonesia. The ship passed fairly close to Krakatoa. It was smoking pretty good. Indonesia has notoriously poor antismoking regulations. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/30 "2009-08-04T11:23:46Z")
Interesting topic, I just got sidetracked on Wikipedia. I was impressed by Krakatoa, and then I read about the [Oruanui Eruption](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oruanui_eruption) (1,170km3) at Lake Taupo and then stunned by the scale of the [Island Park Caldera supereruption](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Park_Caldera) (2,500km3). Words fail me. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915/31 "2009-08-04T13:07:18Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > When I was backpacking across Indonesia, I spent some time in the Calendra of Mt. Batur. It was damn impressively huge - there were as I recall a couple of villages inside the calendra itself. calendra? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/krakatoa-awakens-newslink/504915.md?page=1)