Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Anak Krakatau at highest alert

Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (whew, that is a mouthful) has placed Anak Krakatau on high alert for increased activity. Tourists were warned not to climb on the volcanic island in the Sunda Straits that rises from the remnants of the famous 1883 eruption of Krakatau. Anak Krakatau formed within the caldera of the ancestral volcano and have been fairly active since the 1920’s, producing incandescent bombs and small ash columns.

At the same time, the alert at Agung has been reduced from Level III to Level II, which allows some hiking around the volcano but not within 2 kilometers of the main crater. Agung is yet another noisy stratovolcano along the Indonesia arc with its last major eruption in 1964 (a big one, too, at VEI 5).

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