Will Eyjafjallajokul cool or contribute to global warming?

asked by Yee Chow on Monday 19th April 2010

Question

Just out of interest. As I understand volcanic eruptions spews out tonnes and tonnes of CO2 and other GHGs but also ash that covers the Earth thereby cooling. I suspect the ash has a short term impact while the GHGs will add to the atmospheric CO2 concentration. So, not sure you can compare in this way but just out of interest. Any thoughts?

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climate science, volcanos
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+1 #2 Yee Chow 2010-04-22 03:43

Just read an article from Guardian Newspaper of an unexpected consequence of the volcano to throw into the equation.... 2.8m tonnes of CO2 saved from the air travel chaos :)

 
 
#1 Juan Carlos Arredondo 2010-06-08 00:46

An addition to previous comments:

Vulcanic eruptions may also emit aerosol compounds which, depending on its chemical composition, may have a cooling effect in the atmosphere. The cooling effect of aerosol compounds is well established in the scientific community that studies air pollution.

We would need to know the composition of the Eyjafjallajökul l emissions, its emission rate, and the volume or quantity accumulated in the atmosphere before we can estimate the possible "cooling" effect.

The continued emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere would be competing with vulcanic aerosols in terms of the overall radiative force effect over the atmosphere. The lifespan of aerosols is different from those of greenhouse gases, thus emission rates and conversion in the atmosphere are important.

In other words, there is no a clear-cut answer yet, but it is something that can be estimated later on.