The eruption released160-213 cubic meters of rock

One of the interesting facts about the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora is that the eruption released160-213 cubic meters of rock. The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) is a measure of how explosive volcanic eruptions are. Chris Newhall of the US Geological Survey and Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii invented it in 1982. The explosivity value is calculated using the volume of products, the height of the eruption cloud, and qualitative observations (using phrases ranging from "gentle" to "mega-colossal"). The scale is arbitrary, with the greatest eruptions in history being assigned a magnitude of 8. A number of 0 represents non-explosive eruptions, defined as less than 10,000 m3 (350,000 cu ft) of ejected tephra, while a value of 8 represents a mega-colossal explosive eruption capable of ejecting 1.01012 m3 (240 cubic miles) of tephra and having a cloud column height of more than 20 km (66,000 ft). Except for the intervals between VEI-0, VEI-1, and VEI-2, the scale is logarithmic, with each interval reflecting a tenfold increase in the reported ejecta criterion.

Mount Tambora's 1815 explosion was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. This Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 7 eruption, the most recent documented VEI-7 eruption, released 160–213 cubic kilometers (38-51 cubic miles) of material into the atmosphere.

Although the Mount Tambora eruption reached a spectacular climax on 10 April 1815, there were increased steaming and small phreatic eruptions throughout the next six months to three years. In 1816, the ash from the eruption column diffused over the planet, lowering global temperatures in an occurrence known as the Year Without a Summer. This brief era of significant climate change resulted in severe weather and crop failures in many parts of the world. Several climate forcings coincided and interacted in a systematic way not seen after any other major volcanic eruption since the early Stone Age.