Extreme Sound and Pressure Wave Created by Krakatoa’s Explosion

Photo by Marc Szeglat on Unsplash

Focused on raising a family with his wife, David Preschlack functions as the president of NBC Sports Group and content strategy activities. A prolific reader, David Preschlack particularly enjoys exploring topics of history and has traveled extensively throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

An article published in Nautilus brought focus to a unique event with profound repercussions that occurred in 1883 in what is now Indonesia. Situated between Sumatra and Java, the island of Krakatoa witnessed an extreme volcanic eruption that partially destroyed the island.

The sound that accompanied that eruption represented the loudest emitted, up to the present, and was audible as “guns firing” 1,300 miles distant in the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. It was also heard as “artillery reports” in Western Australia and New Guinea 2,000 miles away and as the “distant roar of heavy guns” 3,000 miles away on Rodrigues in the vicinity of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It total, the sound was audible to the naked ear over a geographic expanse representing one-third of the globe.

The impact of the sound was extreme for those closer to the event, with the British vessel Norham Castle traveling only 40 miles away when Krakatoa exploded. In his log, the ship’s captain recorded that the eardrums of over half the crew had been shattered, and his “last thoughts” were that “the Day of Judgement has come.”

Interestingly, the blast of high pressure air associated with Krakatoa’s eruption traveled much farther than was audible, with Calcutta barometers registering a spike in atmospheric pressure six hours and 47 minutes after the event and similar impulses reaching weather stations around the globe, from St. Petersburg to Toronto. These pressure waves continued like clockwork for a full five days after the eruption in a never before witnessed phenomenon called “the great air-wave.”