We know that in the climate there can be extraordinary events depending on some specific conditions. Such a global climate can be impacted by a major catastrophic volcano eruption. The famous year without summer from 1816 was a perfect material to reflect on what aspects of the planet can seriously affect the climate.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the year without summer and how some situations affect the world climate.
A year without a summer
Due to the eruption of Mount Tambora, which is a volcano located in its Bagua between April 5 and 10, 1816, immense clouds of dust and ash were emitted into the atmosphere. More than 12.000 people died in the first 24 hours, mainly caused by ashfall and pyroclastic flows. After that, another 75.000 people died of starvation and disease after this largest eruption in 2.000 years.
Being one of the largest eruptions in the world, its millions of tons of volcanic ash and 55 million tons of sulfur dioxide were emitted that rose to a height of 32 kilometers in the atmosphere. Despite being a punctuated eruption, the wind had strong currents that dragged the scattered droplet clouds to the west. This made everything emitted by the volcano circled the earth in just two weeks.
Two months later these currents reached the North Pole and the South Pole. The fine sulfur particles became suspended in the air for years. In the summer of the year after the eruption, an almost invisible veil of ash was produced that covered the entire planet. This translucent side reflected the sunlight and did not allow the rays to reach the surface, reducing the temperature of the entire planet. In addition, it caused climatic havoc around the world. This is why the year without a summer happened in the year 1816.
It is not any kind of divine revenge as was thought at that time, but the most serious eruptions of a volcano. This causes the climate to cool by several degrees for years.
Impact of a year without a summer
The full impact of the cooling of the entire planet was derived from the Tambora cataclysm and did not begin to be noticed until a year later. Clouds of scattering droplets in the stratosphere reduced the amount of solar energy reaching the earth. The air, the land, and then the oceans lowered their temperature. This could be well studied by the growth rings of European oaks. This studio tells us that the year 1816 was the second coldest year in the Northern Hemisphere since the year 1400.
As summer and fall rolled on, the cloud spawned spectacular red, purple and orange sunsets over London. It can be said that the sky had fire in some places. In the spring of 1816 there will still be snow in the northeastern United States and Canada. The cold also reached Tennessee and the freezing weather lasted until June. Such were the low temperatures that in some places like New Hampshire it was practically impossible to plow the land.
In this month it was quite cold air and tremendous storms fell in which many Birds were frozen to death in the streets just two weeks before the summer solstice. Many crops eventually wilted in the fields due to very severe frosts. Many flocks of sheep also perished in the cold. This is a time when serious meteorological science did not yet exist and there was no weather forecast of any kind.
In the absence of science, the devotees made all storms were caused by God made a symbol of divine wrath. Europe also experienced very low temperatures and a colder and wetter spring than normal. Due to the high price of the baron, there were various disturbances in France.
Consequences
There are numerous studies on the year without summer and they are mainly based on the analysis of the rings of the European oaks. These rings point out that this year 1816 was the coldest since 1400. Tensions on residents increased. Intense cold and drought wiped out hay and corn crops in many places, with typical October winds in August. In the area of Europe it had constant rains and heavy snowfalls, especially in the mountain areas of switzerland. This caused rivers and streams to overflow.
The peasant houses began to work urgently to save the vegetables and all the hay was transported soaked in boats. It was the only way to save crops as much as possible. In Germany the potatoes ended up rotten in the land gate of the storms ruined most of the crops. The cereal harvests were also allied, the grapes did not ripen in the vineyards and I saw them almost every day for 5 weeks in a row.
In Paris there were some ecclesiastical authorities who ordered special prayers for 9 days to try to ask God to end this bad weather. Traders across Europe raised prices, while the distress of the poor reached alarming levels, all in anticipation of poor harvests. Both in Spain and in Portugal the cold persisted with temperatures averages about 2-3 degrees below normal.
They were especially abundant precipitations in the month of August, being men generally dry. The cold and humidity ended up damaging crops throughout the country. A sky watcher noted that in the entire month of July there were only 3 cloudless days. The cold temperatures ended up killing the fruits, especially the grapes, because I only made a small proportion of the harvest. This produced poor quality wines. Olive trees are also sensitive to cold and heat and did not produce quality fruit either.
In short, it was quite a disaster caused by a large-scale volcanic eruption. I hope that with this information you can learn more about the year without a summer.