麻豆社

Dr Iain Stewart visits Mount Tambora, site of the largest known volcanic eruption of the last millennium, on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. In 1815 Tambora blasted 50 cubic km of rock high into the atmosphere, leaving an 8km-wide caldera. Falling as ash, the ejected rock stopped crops from photosynthesising. Volcanic debris in the upper atmosphere reflected sunlight back into space and caused global cooling. An estimated 200,000 people worldwide were killed by the eruption itself and famines caused by widespread crop failures.