Just how much CO2 is emitted by air traffic is quite surprising. A fair amount also comes naturally from volcanoes. Hard figures are difficult to come by in this controversial area. The current disruption being experienced by European air travel has however thrown up some interesting statistics. Take a look at this graph (taken from here) which compares the amount of CO2 being released every day as part of the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption in Iceland compared to the amount of CO2 that would be have been released each day by the grounded planes:
It is quite striking to see the information set out like that. The economic impact of the airspace shut down is likely to be very high. A spokesman for the International Air Transport Association has said that problems now facing his industry are greater even than those that followed the US terror attacks in 2001. As well as impacting on airlines if the disruption continues or if it returns it could have a knock on effect on many over areas. World-wide tourism is a very important industry. If people are either unable to travel, or afraid that if they do that they will be stranded then it will suffer, possibly risking many jobs. More volcanic activity is the last thing that the world’s economies need to see.
Alarmingly it seems as though global climate change could have an impact on seismic activity such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Rising temperatures lead to the thick sheets of ice that cover certain bits of land melting. When the pressure of this ice has gone it means that the land underneath it can rise up. This caused disruption to the Earth’s crust, leading to an increase in seismological activity. According to scientists, there is evidence that this has happened in the past, and that it is happening again.
