Seen from space: the volcanic eruption that likely triggered Indonesia's devastating tsunami

By Tom Yulsman | December 24, 2018 2:52 pm

In Indonesia, they call it “Anak Krakatoa, meaning “child of Krakatoa.”

It’s a volcano that rose from the sea in the 1920s decades after one of the most deadly volcanic cataclysms in recorded history killed tens of thousands of people and all but obliterated the island of Krakatoa, east of Java.

Now, Anak Krakatau has itself brought great misery to Indonesia, with an eruption that apparently triggered an underwater landslide, which in turn sent a tsunami racing toward the western tip of the island of Java. A wall of water roared ashore, catching residents and vacationers completely unawares. As I’m writing this on Christmas Eve, more than 370 people have perished, and more than a hundred still are missing.

When Anak Krakatau erupted on December 22, Japan’s Himawari-8 weather satellite was watching from geostationary orbit, 22,239 miles overhead. Click on the screenshot above to watch what the satellite saw.

More:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2018/12/24/seen-from-space-the-volcanic-eruption-that-triggered-indonesia-tsunami/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20DiscoverBlogs%20%28Discover%20Blogs%29#.XCFjYlxKjIU