A transient lunar atmosphere formed during a peak period of volcanic outgassing and lasting up to about similar to 70 Ma was recently proposed. We utilize forward-modeling of individual lunar basaltic eruptions and the observed geologic record to predict eruption frequency, magma volumes, and rates of volcanic volatile release. Typical lunar mare basalt eruptions have volumes of similar to 10(2)-10(3) km(3), last less than a year, and have a rapidly decreasing volatile release rate. The total volume of lunar mare basalts erupted is small, and the repose period between individual eruptions is predicted to range from 20,000 to 60,000 years. Only under very exceptional circumstances could sufficient volatiles be released in a single eruption to create a transient atmosphere with a pressure as large as similar to 0.5 Pa. The frequency of eruptions was likely too low to sustain any such atmosphere for more than a few thousand years. Transient, volcanically induced atmospheres were probably inefficient sources for volatile delivery to permanently shadowed lunar polar regions.