Anak Krakatau Erupted

I'm no linguist, but it is my understanding Anak Krakatau is essentially "Son of Krakatoa." More on the original later. Indonesia cancels flights as Anak Krakatau volcano erupts

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted early Sunday, prompting the cancellation of all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and disrupting other domestic airports as volcanic ash drifted across parts of western Indonesia.

Seven airports around the region were closed, impacting 1000s of flights. I saw one headline that five of those airports have since reopened.

By Sunday evening, the closure had affected 467 flight movements in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone that affected about 150,000 passengers. The airport was ordered closed until at least 9:30 p.m.

The news is mostly about impacted airlines, and worries about a repeat of what happened in 2018. In 2018 a side of Anak Krakatau collapsed, giving rise to the Sunda Strait tsunami. That tsunami killed more than 400 people and injured more than 14,000. It came without the usual warning, because the cone of the volcano collapsed without an earthquake to trigger the tsunami warnings.

Of course Krakatoa erupted violently in 1883.

Its explosive eruption in 1883 was one of the most catastrophic in history.

That is because we don't have historic records for the supervolcanos, only geologic records.

How bad was it?

The climax was reached at 10:00 am on August 27, with tremendous explosions that were heard 2,200 miles (3,500 km) away in Australia and propelled ash to a height of 50 miles (80 km). Pressure waves in the atmosphere were recorded around the Earth. Explosions diminished throughout the day, and by the morning of August 28, the volcano was quiet. Small eruptions continued in the following months and in February 1884.

Click that link for an interesting graphic on loudness of the explosion (remembering that decibel is a logrithmic scale), compared to atomic bombs, and rock concerts.

I include this post from X, because of the video. As volcanoes go, this eruption looks fairly average to my non-scientific eye.

🇮🇩🌋 TERRIFYING MOMENT: Anak Krakatau erupts in Indonesia.

Footage captures the first seconds of the eruption, sending a huge plume of ash into the sky.

Watching Anak Krakatau erupt today makes it almost impossible to imagine the sheer scale of the legendary 1883 Krakatau…

— XPRESS (@Xpress_24_7) September 6, 2026

And becuase I can't resist. "Volcano" by Jimmy Buffett. It is the title song to his 1979 album.