The eruption ofIndonesian Tambora volcanomade the summer of 1816 the coldest in the Iberian Peninsula. As revealed by historical documents and observations from Spanish and Portuguese stations, the emissions ofvolcano gases and particleslimitated the incidence of solar radiation in Spain, where that summerthe temperature did not exceed 15ºC.
The Tambora volcano erupted in April 1815, but it wasn’t until months later that North America and Europe noticed its effects. During the year1816, called the“year without a summer”, gases, ash and dust reached the Iberian Peninsula and reached the stratosphere, where they stayed longer to create “a huge filter in the sun.” This is clear from the evaluation that an international team with Spanish participation has made public in the latest issue of the prestigious magazineInternational Journal of Climatology.
The documents studied include theBaron Maldá’s Diary, which from Barcelona noted that the unusual temperatures of that summer of 1816 could be related to a “great snowfall” in central Spain on July 16. He also noted that in the Pyrenees and northern Europe “it was snowing considerably.” According to the scientists, this information coincides with the record that day of low temperatures in Madrid, which were 13.1ºC. The alleged snowfall reported by the Baron may have actually been a hailstorm.
According to Ricardo García Herrera, co-author of the study, the eruption of the Tambora volcano is probably “the largest recorded in historical times.” This is demonstrated by hisexplosiveness index(a measure of the magnitude of the eruption) which was of7, “greater than any more recent eruption, including that of the Pinatubo in the Philippines.”
The effects were noticeable even in theharvests, which gave a very low and late production in Spain. The decade from 1811 to 1820 suffered severe socioeconomic impacts from poor agricultural production, malnutrition, and increased epidemics in Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
