Happy Friday, dudes. Did you know the loudest sound ever recorded could be heard over 3,000 miles away?

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Big Stuff

The Loudest Sound Ever

Imagine a sound so deafening it circles the globe multiple times, leaves sailors 40 miles away with ruptured eardrums, and shatters windows 3,000 miles from its source. This was the reality on August 27, 1883, when the volcanic island of Krakatoa, situated in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted with an unparalleled force. The explosion, widely regarded as the loudest noise ever heard by human ears, was both a geological and historical phenomenon.

Krakatoa’s catastrophic finale didn’t come out of nowhere. The volcano had been restless for months, with ominous tremors and smaller eruptions signaling that something monumental was brewing. But no one could have imagined the sheer scale of the disaster. At 10:02 a.m. local time, Krakatoa erupted in a cataclysmic explosion that obliterated most of the island, ejecting an estimated 6 cubic miles of rock, ash, and pumice into the atmosphere. To put that in perspective, that’s enough material to cover Manhattan in a 1,000-foot layer of debris.

The sound of the eruption reached an estimated 310 decibels—an almost incomprehensible volume. For comparison, a jet engine at close range clocks in at about 140 decibels, and every 10-decibel increase represents a tenfold jump in intensity. The sheer power of Krakatoa’s explosion was so extreme that it ruptured eardrums on nearby ships, sent shockwaves that traveled around the Earth four times, and was heard as far away as Mauritius, over 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) from the source. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly the distance between New York City and Los Angeles. In Mauritius, locals mistook the sound for distant cannon fire.

Listen for yourself 👇

But the eruption’s devastation wasn’t limited to sound. The explosion triggered massive tsunamis, some reaching heights of 120 feet, which wiped out entire coastal villages and claimed the lives of over 36,000 people. Ash and debris from the blast plunged the region into darkness for days, choking the atmosphere and injecting particles high into the stratosphere. These particles dispersed globally, creating vivid red and orange sunsets for months and lowering global temperatures by an average of 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit for over a year.

Krakatoa’s eruption also marked a pivotal moment in scientific study. For the first time, scientists were able to observe and track the far-reaching effects of a volcanic event in real time, providing valuable insights into global atmospheric patterns. The ash clouds from Krakatoa, for instance, revealed how volcanic particles could travel vast distances and affect weather worldwide.

Today, the remnants of Krakatoa live on as Anak Krakatau (“Child of Krakatoa”), a volcanic island that has been growing in the same spot since the 1883 eruption. True to its heritage, Anak Krakatau remains active, with eruptions in 2018 and 2019 serving as a stark reminder of nature’s raw and unpredictable power.

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