Krakatau << krah kuh TOW >> is a volcano that lies in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia, between the islands of Sumatra and Java. It is also called Krakatoa << krah kuh TOH uh >>. Much of the volcano is underwater. But some of it projects above the water in the form of the islands Krakatau, Anak Krakatau, Sertung (also called Lang), and Payang (also called Verlaten). The volcano rises 2,667 feet (813 meters) above sea level.
Krakatau is known for a destructive eruption in August 1883. The eruption killed about 36,000 people on nearby islands. It generated a series of huge waves called a tsunami. Tsunami waves up to 130 feet (40 meters) high washed ashore, causing most of the deaths. Other people were killed by scalding ash and other material shot out of the volcano. The eruption, heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) away, had global effects. Volcanic dust in the atmosphere caused spectacular red sunsets over the next three years in the Northern Hemisphere. The volcanic dust may also have been the reason for a worldwide drop in temperature that lasted five years.
The 1883 eruption destroyed much of Krakatau Island. It also caused one of the volcano’s summits to fall below the water’s surface, forming a submerged caldera (crater). Eruptions from 1927 to 1930 created Anak Krakatau in the caldera’s center.
