GREETINGS, everyone. Well, according to satellite photos, Pagan, our neighbor island to the north, is erupting again. And that brings to mind our other neighbor to the north, Anatahan.

Pagan (which is farther north than Anatahan) has a typical volcano shape and its caldera is many feet above the sea. Anatahan is a little different. It’s a small island 2 miles wide and 6 miles long, but its crater is 4 miles wide and Anatahan is mostly crater. And here’s the important part: The current point of eruption is quite close to the edge of the crater and it’s below sea level.

Why is this important? In August 1883, another volcano had a similar profile. It too had a large caldera with a bottom below sea level. It had several massive eruptions and on Aug. 27, a huge eruption cracked open the side of the crater allowing sea water to rush into the underground magma chamber. The resulting steam literally blew the erupting volcano to pieces. It was located in Indonesia and its name was ... Krakatoa.

Could Anatahan erupt catastrophically like Krakatoa? Sure, it could. In fact, Anatahan is very similar to Krakatoa before its cataclysmic eruption in August 1883. Both islands had been blown apart before in massive eruptions and Anatahan has the same large caldera that Krakatoa had.

Anatahan could ‘go Krakatoa’ on us. So, what does that mean for Guam? Well, since the volcanoes are similar, let’s examine just what happened when Krakatoa erupted and how widespread the devastation was.

When Krakatoa blew up, the sound of the explosion was heard almost 4,000 miles away. It’s the loudest noise ever recorded. Here on Guam, we’ll know exactly when Anatahan blows (if it does), because we’ll hear it. So, if you hear something that sounds like an explosion or cannon or mortar fire, it just could be Anatahan.

But here’s the important part. Anatahan is 200 miles from Guam. The maximum reach of lava, pyroclastic bombs (big rocks thrown out of the crater with incredible speed) and pyroclastic flows (ground-hugging avalanches of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments, and volcanic gas that rush down the side of a volcano as fast as 60 mph) from the Krakatoa eruption was 50 miles. We don’t have to worry about any of these things here on Guam. We’re too far away.

There is, however, one consequence of a cataclysmic eruption of Anatahan that we just might have to deal with, and that’s ash. When Krakatoa erupted, it put 12 cubic MILES of ash, dust and pumice into the air.

The ash and dust cloud completely covered the Sunda Straits and it was dark for at least 20 hours after the eruption within a 250 mile radius from the volcano. The darkness lasted more than 24 hours at places that were 130 miles away and over two days within a 50-mile radius of the volcano. In the immediate area, it was totally dark for three days.

So, if Anatahan does erupt violently, prepare for ashfall and lots of it. You’ll be shoveling and shaking ash off things for a long time. And prepare to get cold, because if it’s dark for a while, things cool off pretty fast. If Anatahan blows, it’s highly unlikely that you will be injured or die, but likely that you’ll be inconvenienced for a while.

Have you noticed that it’s been hazy lately? Have you noticed those larger than average sized dust particles on your car after it’s been parked overnight? That just could be ash and dust from Pagan’s current eruption. Welcome to the Ring of Fire!