mt st helens?

Question

Did the eruption of mt st helens produce more carbon dioxide emissions, than all of the human industrial emissions put together?

Answer 1

No, it didn't. You hear people claim quite often that volcanoes emit more CO2 than all human activity, mostly people who don't want to bother with any environmental issues, but the claims are never backed up with actual numbers or measurements or studies of real volcanoes. And I have read somewhere else that volcanic emissions are a minor source of CO2 in the air. If I can find a source, I'll come back and put it here later.

I'm back. The first source says "Volcanoes release more than 130 million tones of CO2 into the atmosphere every year." That is referring to all volcanoes in the world combined.

The carbon flux graph in the second source says fossil fuel burning releases 6E12 kg (6,000 million metric tons) of carbon per year. Since CO2 is about 27% carbon, that means we emit over 22,000 million tons of CO2 per year. That is a lot more than 130 million.

Answer 2

It depends on what you mean. In all of the history of CO2 emissions, no way, but probably for that day and a couple days after yes. The pollution amount was amazing from Mt. St. Helens, and really from any volcano eruption.

Answer 3

The eruption that day put more CO2 into the atmosphere than all human emissions that year, if the numbers the scientists give us can be relied upon.