Nature Communications (Oct 2019)

Complex hazard cascade culminating in the Anak Krakatau sector collapse

  • Thomas R. Walter,
  • Mahmud Haghshenas Haghighi,
  • Felix M. Schneider,
  • Diego Coppola,
  • Mahdi Motagh,
  • Joachim Saul,
  • Andrey Babeyko,
  • Torsten Dahm,
  • Valentin R. Troll,
  • Frederik Tilmann,
  • Sebastian Heimann,
  • Sébastien Valade,
  • Rahmat Triyono,
  • Rokhis Khomarudin,
  • Nugraha Kartadinata,
  • Marco Laiolo,
  • Francesco Massimetti,
  • Peter Gaebler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12284-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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On 22 December 2018, the western flank of Anak Krakatau collapsed into the sea of the Sunda Strait triggering a tsunami which killed approximately 430 people and displaced 33,000. Here, the authors show that Anak Krakatau exhibited an elevated state of activity several months prior to the collapse, including precursory thermal anomalies, an increase in the island’s surface area, and a gradual seaward motion of the southwestern flank.