Sangeang Api (Gunung Api or Gunung Sangeang) is an active

complex volcano A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or ...

on the island of in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It consists of two volcanic cones, Doro Api and Doro Mantoi. Sangeang Api is one of the most active volcanoes in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

. Administratively the island forms one village (''desa'') within Wera District (''kecamatan'') of Bima Regency; it covers a land area of 165.76 km² and had a population of 4,739 in mid 2023.

Location

The island of Sangeang is part of the

. It is located northeast of

Sumbawa Sumbawa, is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but th ...

in the

Flores Sea The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands, the Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Geography The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea ...

and is 13 km wide with an area of 153 km².

Historical literature

The earliest document mentioning the Sang Hyang Api volcano was found in 14th century

Majapahit Majapahit (; (eastern and central dialect) or (western dialect)), also known as Wilwatikta (; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia based on the island o ...

script of

Nagarakretagama The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known in Bali as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by ...

. "Gunung Api" also appears as the name for the mountain in the first chapter of the novel '' The Long Journey'' by Johannes V. Jensen.

Eruptions

The Sangeang Api and the Satonda volcanoes are eruption centers associated to the Tambora volcano. The Sangeang Api erupted in 1988 and the island's inhabitants were evacuated. Between its first recorded eruption in 1512 and 1989, it erupted 17 times. It erupted again during December 2012 and May 2014.

2014 Eruption

Since mid-June 2013, authorities had put the volcano on 'high alert' for a possible eruption. On May 30, 2014, a major eruption occurred at around 3:55 p.m. local time. Farmers working on the island were evacuated. Ash and smoke quickly rose to an altitude of into the sky. By the next morning, the

ash cloud Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used ...

had crossed the northwest coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region, and airlines had cancelled flights into and from

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

. It later went as far as

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. On 31 May some flights from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

were also cancelled.

Climate

Sangeang Api has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(Cfb). It has moderate rainfall from June to September and heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the remaining months.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , title=Volcano Mount Sangiang Api erupts in Indonesia, farmers evacuated , url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/05/volcano-mount-sangiang-erupts-in-indonesia-farmers-evacuated/ , work=IANS , date=30 May 2014 , publisher=news.biharprabha.com , accessdate=30 May 2014 {{cite book , title = Global Volcanism 1975-1985 , author = Smithsonian Institution / SEAN , author-link = Global Volcanism Program , editor = Lindsay McClelland , editor2 = Tom Simkin , editor3 = Marjorie Summers , editor4 = Elizabeth Nielsen , editor5 = Thomas C Stein , year = 1989 , publisher = Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ, and American Geophysical Union, Washington DC , isbn = 0-13-357203-X , pages
217–219
, url = https://archive.org/details/globalvolcanism10000unse/page/217 {{cite book , last=Monk , first=K.A. , author2=Fretes, Y. , author3=Reksodiharjo-Lilley, G. , title=The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku , year=1996 , page=7 , publisher=Periplus Editions Ltd. , location=Hong Kong , isbn=962-593-076-0 {{cite web , title=Ash grounds flights to Darwin, Bali , url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/05/31/ash-grounds-flights-darwin-bali , publisher=www.sbs.com.au , accessdate=1 June 2014

External links

* NASA Space Shuttle images: *
STS112-E-5628
Directly from above volcano. *
STS61A-40-62
Volcanoes of the Lesser Sunda Islands Complex volcanoes Mountains of Indonesia Active volcanoes of Indonesia Lesser Sunda Islands 21st-century volcanic events