In 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa in Indonesia erupted with a blast so massive it’s still the loudest sound any human ever recorded. People in Australia, nearly 5,000 kilometres away, clearly heard it - like distant cannon fire on a calm afternoon.
The shockwave from the explosion travelled around the entire globe four times. Barometers all over the world spiked in unison every time it passed. Sailors on ships dozens of kilometres away had their eardrums torn, and the tsunami that followed killed more than 36,000 people on nearby coasts.
So much ash and gas was flung into the upper atmosphere that it dimmed sunlight worldwide for a year. Temperatures dropped about 1°C, sunsets glowed blood red across the planet, and the famous painting “The Scream” may show one of those eerie ash-tinted skies.
