The Kelud (, sometimes spelled as Klut, Cloot, Kloet, Kloete, Keloed or Kelut) is a mountain stratovolcano located in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia. Like many Indonesian volcanoes and others on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Kelud is known for large explosive eruptions throughout its history. More than 30 eruptions have occurred since 1000 AD. In 2007, an effusive explosion filled the crater with a lava dome. It last erupted on 13 February 2014, destroying the lava dome and ejecting boulders, stones and ashes up to West Java about from Mount Kelud. The crater filled with water during the rainy season.
1334 eruption
The eruption history of Kelud is unique in Indonesian history, because it was one of the few volcanoes whose activities were recorded in Indonesian historical accounts. According to Nagarakretagama canto 1 stanza 4 and 5 (composed by Mpu Prapanca in 1365), King Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit was born in 1256 Saka, which corresponds to 1334 CE, the same year that Mount Kelud erupted. Prapanca argued that this was the divine sign that Batara Gurunata has manifest Himself on earth, reincarnated as the Javanese king. This account also describes the local Javanese psyche at that time (and even up to present) that regarded the natural event such as volcanic eruption, as the divine sign from the gods.
1586 eruption
In that year, the worst eruption of Mount Kelud killed over 10,000 people.
1919 mudflow
thumb|left|The crater in 1919
On May 19, 1919, an eruption at Kelud killed an estimated 5,000 people, mostly through hot mudflows (also known as "lahars"). More recent eruptions in 1951, 1966, and 1990 have altogether killed another 250 people. Following the 1966 eruption, the Ampera Tunnels were built (top and bottom) on the southwestern side of the crater to reduce (not drain completely) the water of the crater lake and thus reduce the lahar hazard.
1990 eruption
A strong and explosive eruption on early February 1990 produced a seven-kilometer-high column of tephra, heavy tephra falls and several pyroclastic flows. More than thirty people were killed. Workers continued to construct the Ampera Tunnel despite the still-hot () pyroclastic flow deposits which reached as high as and buried the tunnel's mouth. This eruption killed over 300 monkeys in the surrounding forest.
2007 eruption
On 16 October, Indonesian authorities ordered the evacuation of 30,000 residents living near Kelud, after scientists placed the volcano on the highest alert level, meaning that they expected an imminent eruption.
Kelud erupted at about 3 p.m. local time on 3 November. The eruption was confirmed by the Indonesian government's Centre for Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. Although no visual confirmation was possible when the eruption began because the volcano's peak was shrouded by clouds, Indonesian government volcanologists said seismic readings showed an eruption was under way.
However, on the early morning of 4 November, Mount Kelud spewed ash into the air, indicating a full eruption was taking place. "The eruption isn't over," Saut Simatupang, head of Indonesian Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Agency, said. Seismologists monitoring the crater said surface temperatures in Mount Kelud's crater lake rose on 4 November to from on 3 November. At a depth of , the temperature jumped to on 4 November from on 3 November. The extreme heat created a cloud of steam and smoke high.
On 5 November, new columns of smoke and steam erupted from the crater. Boiling water cascaded down the flanks of the mountain from the crater lake, and seismological equipment near the crater ceased working. Indonesian authorities said about 25,000 people remained in the danger zone, ignoring evacuation orders.
The following day, a lava dome rose through the centre of the crater lake atop the mountain. Closed-circuit television cameras showed the long oblong island had pushed about above the surface of the lake. The volcano continued to emit smoke, with plumes reaching into the atmosphere.
But after 48 hours of smoke and ash but no lava, Indonesian officials declared on 8 November that no eruption was immediate. Officials said the volcano was experiencing a "slow eruption" and was unlikely to explode as it had done many times in the past century.
By 12 November, Mount Kelud began spewing lava into its crater lake. The lava dome, which had expanded to long and high, cracked open and lava began oozing into the surrounding water. Smoke rose more than into the air, and ash dusted several villages around the volcano. The hot lava dome occupied the lake crater and, consequently, the lake disappeared.