Tambora Eruption 1815

Mount Tambora is an active volcano on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Its eruption in the year 1815 was the largest in recorded history. The magnitude of the eruption is illustrated by the fact that before the 1815 Mount Tambora used to be one of the largest peaks of Indonesia measuring about 4,300 m (14,100 ft). After the eruption, its size was reduced to about 2,800 m (9,200 ft).
During the explosion ash and aerosols were released to the atmosphere to heights of more than 30 km (98,000 ft) where they spread across the globe and stayed for a few years. As a consequence, climate anomalies - mostly cooling - occurred on a global scale leading to a failure of agricultural crops and subsequent famine and riots. Several ten thousand people died of starvation in the aftermath of the eruption.
This animation shows global surface temperature anomalies in the years following the eruption.

Download animated gif file
Download SOS/MP tar file