In late 1808, a colossal volcanic eruption disrupted weather around the world. It was one of the three biggest eruptions of the 19th century – but we don’t know where it happened.

Bachelot Pierre J-P [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

We know that a volcano erupted somewhere from contemporary accounts of giant cloud banks shrouding the sun, and secondary measures like sulfate concentrations in Greenland ice cores. The cloud must have been enormous: those contemporary accounts were from Lima and Bogotá, 2600km apart.

But which volcano was it? We still don’t know. The best hypotheses put it somewhere between Indonesia and Tonga – although Mount Putana in the Andes may also be a candidate, as is the Toghavitu Eruption of Savo Island.

• 1808 / 1809 mystery eruption
• Putana
• Savo Island

Categories: Earth & sky Oceania Places Sciences South America

The Generalist

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and am curious about most things.