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Mount Tambora changed the world. In 1815, the Indonesian volcano exploded in the most powerful eruption in recorded history, sending an enormous plume of tiny sun-reflecting particles high into the atmosphere, cooling the planet and ushering in disaster.
What followed was called the "year without a summer:" global temperatures plunged, crops failed, people starved, a cholera pandemic spread and tens of thousands died. Some even credit the volcano with inspiring Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein, while sheltering from unusually cold weather in Switzerland in 1816.
Many volcanoes have erupted since, but Tambora remains the planet's most recent massive eruption. More than 200 years later, scientists warn the world may be due another.
The question is not if, but when, said Markus Stoffel, a climate professor at the University of Geneva. Geological evidence suggests a 1-in-6 chance of a massive eruption this century, he told CNN.
The next massive eruption will "cause climate chaos," Stoffel said. "Humanity does not have any plan."
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📷: John Moore/Getty Images
