With the environment, aircraft are more frightening than volcanoes

About 150,000 to 300,000 tons of CO ₂ escapes from the crater in Iceland every day, much less than the emissions generated by European aircraft.

Photo of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland on April 19.Photo: Reuters.

"The amount of CO2 released from Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland is about 150,000 tons per day," AFP quoted Colin Macpherson, an earth researcher at Durham University, England.

But Patrick Allard, a specialist at the Paris Institute of Geophysics, said that figure could reach 300,000 tons.

According to AFP, European Environmental Agency data show that emissions of aircraft of 27 European countries generate up to 440,000 tons per day. Thus, even if volcanoes erupt 300,000 tons of CO2 every day, it is still far behind European aircraft in terms of emissions.

Scientists claim that the amount of CO2 released from Eyjafjallajokull volcano is not large enough to cause any impact on climate change phenomenon. Even more people say the eruption of volcanoes makes the atmosphere fresher because the aircraft cannot take off. But experts say CO _{2 is} still released when people use transport means such as trains, cars, and buses to replace aircraft.

Data from the Institute of World Resources shows that the total volume of 6 greenhouse gases emitted by the world in 2005 is 36 billion tons if converted to CO2 _.