Student copy
DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAPER. WRITE ANSWERS ON NOTEBOOK PAPER.
A Year Without Summer
Introduction: As you have learned throughout this year, the earth works as a system, a
group of interdependent parts that work together to form a whole. You cannot have a
change in one system without affecting the other systems. So when there is a change in
the geosphere through the activities of plate tectonics, we will also see changes in the
atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. This activity will help you understand some of
those changes and make predictions about others.
Procedures:
1. Read the article The Year Without A Summer.
2. As you read look for the ways that the volcano affected other earth systems.
Remember to look for effects on the biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and
atmosphere. There can be more than 1 effect for each one.
3. Predict how other plate tectonic activities can affect other earth systems.
Make an outline:
1. How did the Tambora volcano affect the atmosphere?
2. How did the Tambora volcano affect the hydrosphere?
3. How did the Tambora volcano affect the biosphere?
4. How did the Tambora volcano affect the geosphere?
Write a six paragraph essay:
¶ 1: Introduction
¶ 2: Atmosphere
¶ 3: Hydrosphere
¶ 4: Biosphere
¶ 5: Geosphere
¶ 6: Summary
Grading Key:
Outline
Each paragraph
Grammar
Punctuation etc
10 points
10 points
10 points
10 points
MYP/Honors research how one
specific area of the world was
affected. Add a paragraph
Reading
The year without a summer:
A volcano changes weather in 1816
Modified from W. B. Jones
Robertson County Historical Society
We all find ourselves complaining about how hot it got this summer and some say
they can remember when it was hotter. But there was a year in our history that in some
parts of the U.S. there was no summer. Actually there was more than one year, but the
one that is mostly referred to when the “Year Without A Summer” is mentioned is in the
year 1816.
In April of 1815 the volcano, Tambora, erupted East of Java. 92,000 people were
killed immediately. The earthquakes triggered by the eruption caused a large tsunami,
even though the volcano itself was not located in the sea. It was believed to be one of
the most explosive eruptions within 10,000 years.
The eruption put more than 150 tons of dust into the atmosphere, which slowly
moved around the world. This dust blocked the incoming solar radiation from the sun
and thus caused the earth to cool. This changed the weather patterns for the U.S. and
other countries in the Northern Hemisphere. The northern states were affected more
than the southern states with changes in seasonal patterns and crop harvesting. Utah
only experienced temperatures that were about 15 to 20 degrees below normal.
However, in New York there were frosts in every month of the year. At the time
scientists blamed sunspots for the unseasonable weather. Communications were not as
good as they are today so many people just speculated about what was happening.
Some people thought it may be the end of the world.
In Canada, between May and September, Quebec had a series of cold waves
which killed crops and led to near famine conditions. Between June 6th and 10th, there
was a foot of snow on the ground. Sub-zero temperatures in June blackened the crops
and killed wildfowl.
In the New England states crops failed and food became very scarce which
caused a mass movement of population or migration to the West the following year.
This led to a shift in farming away from the Eastern part of the U.S. Just as migration of
the population happened in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s the people who moved on to
another location did not return. Because of bad weather one summer 200 years ago,
farming changed in the U.S. forever. This is probably what we will see in New Orleans
after the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Historically people do not return after disasters
such as these.
In Europe the effects were worse than the U.S. due to the larger population at that
time. There were famines and crop failures there also. There were food riots in France
and Switzerland and at least 200,000 died from hunger due to the weather change.
Tambora was not the only volcano to erupt at the time. There were many other volcanic
eruptions during the period of 1812-1817 that led to the overcast sky and cooling of the
earth's surface around the world. Can it happen again? It sure can. It has happened
throughout the history of the earth and will continue to occur in the future.