Is Eyjafjallajoekull the Joe Cool of volcanoes or what? Is this the first volcano to have a net negative CO2 emission?
Usually I don't like infographics which contain very little information. This one is thought-provoking, though. Here's "Planes or volcano?" with a hat tip to Scruffy Dan.
(Note: Most Icelandic volcanoes are called Joe Cool. "jokulhlaup" (pronounced approximately yokel-hoop if I recall correctly) is Icelandic for a sub-ice volcano. This is pretty serious business in Iceland, as if they didn't have enough problems these days.)
Related, a very spooky portrait of Eyjafjallajoekull from the air.
Update: According to Roger Ebert, admittedly not an expert, this amazing image is an actual photo of Eyjafjalla.
Update: I got some twitter notoriety for suggesting that Ejfjljkl might be the first "carbon negative volcano" but Eater of Sun/Heliophage/Oliver Morton convincingly argues otherwise.
That seems very little CO2 for the volcano! Is it accurate?
ReplyDeleteAt a density of 1 kg per cubic meter, that's a cube 200 m per side.
Some of it is saved, much is merely postponed. Some will cancel vacations and business trips, but the people stuck away from home will ultimately go back and many vacationers and business travelers will still fly at a later date. They may be on flights with higher load factors, they may choose alternate modes of transport, but I'd like to see an estimate of the net emissions permanently avoided.
ReplyDeleteP.s. Thank you, Captain Obvious!
It will be amazing to see what the ice cap looks like after the clouds and ash clear enough for a good view. The Gigjokull which had been retreating rapidly without volcanic help, will now have to be entered in a new category. <
ReplyDeleteIIRC "Jökulhlaup" is the correct term, and it means a glacial outburst flood, caused by geothermal heating or a volcano erupting under an ice sheet. And on checking, I find that "Jökul" is Iceland for glacier. Not sure about the Icelandic for volcano...
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, jökull is the Icelandic for glacier. "Jökulhlaup" means "glacier run" and is what happens when a volcano erupts under the icecap. Eldstöð means volcano.
ReplyDeleteHere's a really awesome video of the recent jökulhlaup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJII-u-41Lg
Looks like the original estimate of CO2 from this volcano was way off.
ReplyDeleteThe new estimate is about 150 000 tons per day. Still not really significant in terms of global emissions
Yeah. Why didn't any steely eyed physicist (which I'm not) here spot it? :) Just by way of really offhand estimation.
ReplyDeleteHate to trumpet my own horn but nobody picked up a clue when I mentioned it right in the first comment.