Icelandic Volcano's Daily CO2 Output Is Nothing Compared To European Aviation Industry's

Gizmodo:

Mt. Eyjafjallajökull is wreaking havoc on European travel right now, but what about the continent's environment? That's a lot of CO2 in the air, after all, but you'd be surprised to learn the airplanes it's grounded are much, much worse.

Read the whole story: Gizmodo

Comments

[sparky73]

04:11 PM on 04/21/2010

we really need to restrict flights and have a lot less of them. Ofcourse that will drive up demand and price BUT at least we will be saving the earth

[JerryAguy]

06:18 AM on 04/21/2010

CO2 isn't the problem, it's ash ans lots of it.

[KIVPossum]

03:42 AM on 04/20/2010

One things for sure - the last few days we have had wonderfully clear blue skies. Not a cloud.

[Publicola]

01:47 PM on 04/20/2010

What do you mean, "we", Kimosabe? Where I live the sky has been filled with clouds.

[KIVPossum]

02:36 PM on 04/20/2010

I am in S E Europe

[Bartel5]

02:18 AM on 04/20/2010

Glaciers only supply freshwater when they melt.

[Exusian]

08:49 AM on 04/20/2010

Fresh water that flows to the sea, thus raising sea level.

[C Pollard]

10:43 AM on 04/20/2010

Which the increased heat evaporates at a higer rate thus causing levels to lower. And more moisture in the air causes more rain which means better crops which means lower prices and fewer people starve.

[Publicola]

01:48 PM on 04/20/2010

"more moisture in the air causes" ... more global warming.

[Bartel5]

02:17 AM on 04/20/2010

Grow more plants.

[Exusian]

08:49 AM on 04/20/2010

A LOT of plants.

[Bartel5]

02:17 AM on 04/20/2010

Airplane co2? You don't mean like the ones Barry, Nancy, goracle, sting, et al travel on? Those private jets carrying just a few wealthy passengers? You don't mean those, do you?

[KIVPossum]

03:41 AM on 04/20/2010

Yep, the same ones Shrub, dumbdick, falin, et al travel on.

[LeFlaneur]

11:00 AM on 04/20/2010

I'm not sure why nobody picked up on this before.
Al Gore flies on airplanes therefore anything anybody says about climate change is null and void.
Awesome catch on this one.

[Y3rMawm]

12:54 AM on 04/20/2010

It would appear atlas is shrugging.

[Exusian]

11:34 PM on 04/19/2010

Great low altitude video showing the eruption and what it has done to the surrounding glacier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWRvfPhehKM&feature=player_embedded

It's fairly high res at full screen.

[Y3rMawm]

12:48 AM on 04/20/2010

spectacular!

[realpolitic]

01:38 PM on 04/20/2010

Exusian, you think this eruption will change global temperatures much this year? It looked like it might be the warmest on record to date. Deniers would like to have another reason to deny rising temperatures.

[gburton58]

04:35 AM on 05/08/2010

Not true unreal politic. Polar and antarctic ice are larger than since 1996, according to NOAA, and total volume of ice are larger than in decades. Further, it seems that while some areas of the earth are warmer than last year, others are colder, much so. I can speak for NY, where temps have gone from 10 degrees colder than usual for a week, to 10 degrees warmer than usual. I also don't think that we can take the CRU and NASA reports of surface temps with anything more than a grain of salt, since the number of data collecting stations has gone down by 80%, and suspiciously, the stations dropped have all been in cold climates. You need to read the ClimateGate emails, not just the synopses from ideologues like HuffPo.

[Exusian]

08:48 PM on 04/19/2010

And along trots fumes in response to F4's dog whistle.

And then there's reality:

World-wide annual emissions of CO2 from all volcanic activity is equal to less than 1% of annual emissions from burning fossil carbon fuels.

Eyjafjallajokull is not a particularly large volcano, which means it is contributing just a tiny fraction of that less than 1%.

Moreover, not all volcanoes are alike when it comes to CO2 emissions. At subduction zones where one plate is submerging beneath another plate there is a lot of carbonate rock to melt and emit as CO2 during eruptions. There is no carbonate rock to melt at extrusion zones where plates are spreading apart and new rock is being extruded, such as beneath Iceland, so Icelandic volcanoes emit below average quantities of CO2.

And finally, annual world wide permanent geologic sequestration of carbon through sedimentation of calcium carbonate shelled marine life and the weathering of silicate rock is about the same magnitude as the carbon released through volcanic activity.

In other words, on average the net change in atmospheric CO2 from volcanic activity is more or less nil.

[Exusian]

09:43 PM on 04/19/2010

An AFP story here:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.8cc536b2db245bb0c34359dccb86d29a.161&show_article=1
quotes two scientists putting the daily CO2 output of Eyjafjallajokull at between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes.

If Eyjafjallajokull were to emit continuously for an entire year at its current rate it would emit 110 million tonnes of CO2.

Compare that to 30-31 Gt, or billion, tonnes of CO2 emitted each year from burning fossil carbon fuels.

[Bartel5]

02:20 AM on 04/20/2010

What a relief! Just clean by god ASH!

[fumes]

06:45 PM on 04/19/2010

ash hole..

this volcano puts out more C02 than mankind has since the industrial age began.

[LeFlaneur]

10:44 AM on 04/20/2010

Keep repeating it. It might become true.

[fumes]

12:29 PM on 04/20/2010

say leflaneur..

i copy-and-pasted f4's post..

so that you would KNOW it was a play on words lol..

[LeFlaneur]

06:21 PM on 04/19/2010

They're busy creating web sites they can quote tomorrow.

[LeFlaneur]

06:22 PM on 04/19/2010

the trollz that is.. that was a reply to F4Phantom.

[joebaggadonuts]

06:15 PM on 04/19/2010

Volcanic plumes such as this one are Earth's homeostatic response to global warming.

[Y3rMawm]

12:49 AM on 04/20/2010

Yeah, and if it continues long enough, we are going to get a lesson in exactly why you want warming over cooling. Sleep tight.

[joebaggadonuts]

01:35 AM on 04/20/2010

Either way, mother nature has the final say.

[Qunamngdogs]

05:31 PM on 04/19/2010

:-D What's that I hear? Are those...crickets? Really?
I think it's a message. It says there are some bare bottoms showing.

[F4Phantom]

03:57 PM on 04/19/2010

Where have all the tro//z gone?

You know the ones, the ones claiming this volcano put out more C02 than mankind has since the industrial age began.

[Y3rMawm]

12:53 AM on 04/20/2010

This is a small single eruption. Nobody considers the continuous worldwide volcanic activity in places such as Mammoth, Yellowstone, or Kilauea, or underneath the ocean. Nobody considers decaying plant matter as a source, or slash and burn to "grow" for Goobermint subsidized Ethanol.

Have you looked into the emissions of cows and termites? Methane is a far greater greenhouse gas per unit of volume.

[Exusian]

09:06 AM on 04/20/2010

Ahhh, actually, climate science does consider world-wide volcanic emissions of CO2, including seafloor sources, and decaying plant matter, and many more sources of CO2, CH4, and N2O.

And cows and termites simply recycle carbon that is already in the active carbon cycle.