Seen from space: the volcanic eruption that likely triggered Indonesia's devastating tsunami

A volcanic cloud from the eruption of Anak Krakatau in Indonesia on December 22, 2018 is seen in this animation of satellite images acquired by the Himawari-8 satellite. Two distinct volcanic pulses are evident. (After clicking on the screenshot above, click "play" in the upper left corner of the page that launches. If the animation does not run, refresh the page. Source: RAMMB/CIRA SLIDER) In Indonesia, they call it "Anak Krakatoa, meaning "child of Krakatoa." It's a volcano that rose from the sea in the 1920s decades after one of the most deadly volcanic cataclysms in recorded history killed tens of thousands of people and all but obliterated the island of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra. Now, Anak Krakatau has itself brought great misery to Indonesia, with an eruption that apparently triggered an underwater landslide, which in turn sent a tsunami racing toward the western tip of the island of Java. A wall of water roared ashore, catching residents and vacationers completely unawares. As I'm writing this on Christmas Eve, more than 370 people have perished, and more than a hundred still are missing. When Anak Krakatau erupted on December 22, Japan's Himawari-8 weather satellite was watching from geostationary orbit, 22,239 miles overhead. Click on the screenshot above to watch what the satellite saw. The animation consists of "GeoColor" imagery acquired in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum at 10-minute intervals starting at 11:00 UTC. A first pulse of ash is visible at about 13:40, and then a second one at 15:20. As the animation continues, dawn breaks and a plume of ash and steam can still be seen amidst a cloudy atmosphere. Here's what the eruption looked like in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum: