This fantastic diagram popped up on the twitter feed earlier today. It’s authors are the excellent website www.informationisbeautiful.net . It compares the weights of CO2 emitted each day by European aviation and the infamous Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajoekull.
Picture courtesy of http://www.informationisbeautiful.net
I think it’s a beautiful diagram which really gives you a sense of how large man’s effect on the planet is. I love the way they have used the relative sizes of the triangles to compare the weights of CO2. The difference in sizes of the shapes is such a more powerful communication device than just quoting the numbers. It’s ironic how something that is relatively so small can totally handcuff the larger manmade bully. Nature’s revenge!
I’d thoroughly recommend a look at their website. There’ lots more great visualisations.
What do you think about the diagram? Which bits of it do you like? What do you think it is telling us?
Here’s a great satellite picture from NASA showing the ash plume moving from Iceland towards Scotland.
NASA satellite picture of the ash plume from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Scotland is in the bottom of the picture.
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