Indonesia volcano now a third of its size after collapsing during eruption

AFP/Getty Images
Hatty Collier29 December 2018

The scale of the collapse of the Indonesian volcano that led to a deadly tsunami in the Sunda Strait was laid bare today by new satellite images.

Researchers looked at satellite images of the Anak Krakatau volcano to calculate how much rock and ash fell into the sea.

They believe the volcano lost more than two-thirds its height and volume in the last week and that much of it could have plummeted into the sea in one movement.

This movement could have sparked the generation of waves up to five metres high that inundated coastlines of Java and Sumatra, researchers believe.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of BNPB’s data information and public relations center, tweeted a satellite images of the volcano with the caption: “Mount Krakatau Child body changes. The original estimate of PVMBG is 338 meters tall, is currently 110 meters.

“The volume of Older Krakatau lost 150-170 million m3. The current volume is 40-70 million m3. The reduced volume of the body is NOT a due process of erosion during 24-27 / 12/2018 & body.”

Scientists at Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said Anak Krakatau now has a volume of 1.4 billion-2.4 billion cubic feet, having lost 5.2 billion-6.3 billion cubic feet of volume since the December 22 eruption.

Deadly tsunami: wreckage in the Sunda Strait
AFP/Getty Images

More than 420 people died in the waves that reached up to 6.6ft in height, and 40,000 were displaced.

The centre said the crater peak was 360ft high on Friday compared to 1,108ft in September.

Experts have largely relied on satellite radar images to work out what happened to the volcano because cloud cover, continuing eruptions and high seas have hampered inspections. The centre said it would get more precise results from more visual inspections.

Authorities have warned residents to stay at least a mile away from the coastline of the Sunda Strait, which separates Java and Sumatra, because of the risk of another tsunami.

But experts now say another potential tsunami triggered by the volcano collapsing again would be less severe due to its reduced mass.

Anak Krakatau, which means Child of Kratakau, is the offspring of the infamous Krakatau volcano whose monumental eruption in 1883 triggered a period of global cooling.

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