1888 Ritter Island eruption and tsunami

1888 Ritter Island eruption and tsunami
VolcanoRitter Island
Start dateMarch 13, 1888 (1888-03-13)
End dateMarch 13, 1888
TypePhreatic or phreatomagmatic[1]
LocationBismarck Sea
(German New Guinea)
5°31′12″S 148°06′54″E / 5.520°S 148.115°E / -5.520; 148.115
VEI2–3[2][3]
ImpactVolcanic summit collapsed resulting in a tsunami
Deaths500–3,000[4]
Ritter Island is located in Papua New Guinea
Ritter Island
Ritter Island

On the morning of March 13, 1888, an explosion took place on Ritter Island, a small volcanic island in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas, between New Britain and Umboi Island. The explosion resulted in the collapse of most of the island and generated a tsunami with runups of up to 15 meters (49 ft) that caused damage more than 700 kilometers (430 mi) away and killed anywhere between 500 and 3,000 on neighboring islands, including scientists and explorers.[5][4][3][6][7][8] This event is the largest volcanic island sector collapse in recent history.[5][1]

  1. ^ a b Karstens, Jens; Berndt, Christian; Urlaub, Morelia; Watt, Sebastian F.L.; Micallef, Aaron; Ray, Melanie; Klaucke, Ingo (2019). "From gradual spreading to catastrophic collapse – Reconstruction of the 1888 Ritter Island volcanic sector collapse from high-resolution 3D seismic data". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 517: 1–13. Bibcode:2019E&PSL.517....1K. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.04.009. ISSN 0012-821X. S2CID 150016618.
  2. ^ "Ritter Island". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  3. ^ a b "NCEI Global Historical Hazard Database". National Geophysical Data Center. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  4. ^ a b Paris, R.; Switzer, A.D.; Belousova, M. (2014). "Volcanic tsunami: a review of source mechanisms, past events and hazards in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea)". Natural Hazards. 70 (1): 447–440. Bibcode:2014NatHa..70..447P. doi:10.1007/s11069-013-0822-8. S2CID 73610567.
  5. ^ a b Siebert, Lee; Reid, Mark E.; Vallance, James W.; Pierson, Thomas C. (2019). Katherine Jacques (ed.). "When Volcanoes Fall Down—Catastrophic Collapse and Debris Avalanches" (PDF). Fact Sheet 2019–3023. United States Geological Survey. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  6. ^ Karstens, J.; Kelfoun, K.; Watt, S.F.L. (2020). "Combining 3D seismics, eyewitness accounts and numerical simulations to reconstruct the 1888 Ritter Island sector collapse and tsunami". International Journal of Earth Sciences. 109 (8): 2659–2677. Bibcode:2020IJEaS.109.2659K. doi:10.1007/s00531-020-01854-4.
  7. ^ Micallef, Aaron; Watt, Sebastian F. L.; Berndt, Christian; Urlaub, Morelia; Brune, Sascha; Klaucke, Ingo; Böttner, Christoph; Karstens, Jens; Elger, Judith (2017). "An 1888 Volcanic Collapse Becomes a Benchmark for Tsunami Models". eos.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-30. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  8. ^ J. Keeley (2010). "Volcanogenic Tsunamis". volcano.oregonstate.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2021-02-06.