Study Contrails from Aircraft Have Long-Term Impact on Environment, Even Greater Than Carbon Emissions

TapTechNews August 14th news, a new study shows that although commercial airplanes have made progress in reducing carbon emissions, the contrails they leave still have a long-term impact on the environment.

Researchers at Imperial College London found that the contrails formed by aircraft exhaust capture heat in the atmosphere. The study shows that these slender cloud streaks have an even greater impact on global warming than the carbon emissions produced by jet fuel combustion.

The lead author of the study, Edward Griepelt, said in a statement: This study poses a challenge to the aviation industry. In order to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, new aircraft are flying at increasingly higher altitudes. However, this results in these aircraft flying over the North Atlantic generating more and more persistent contrails, trapping more heat in the atmosphere and exacerbating the impact of the aviation industry on the climate.

Modern commercial aircraft are designed to fly at altitudes above 38,000 feet (TapTechNews note: about 12 kilometers), where the air is thinner and there is less air resistance, thereby reducing jet fuel consumption (reducing carbon emissions). At the same time, private aircraft fly above 40,000 feet (12.2 kilometers), higher than the older commercial aircraft that usually fly around 35,000 feet (11 kilometers).

Researchers used machine learning to analyze satellite data of more than 64,000 contrails from different aircraft and found that modern aircraft (including commercial and private aircraft) produce more contrails than older aircraft, and these contrails dissipate for a longer time, which affects the current estimate of climate warming.

This study provides insights into reducing the impact of contrails by reducing the soot emitted by aircraft engines, which is produced by incomplete fuel combustion.

Co-author Mark Stettler said: From other studies, we know that the number of soot particles in aircraft exhaust plays a key role in the properties of newly formed contrails. Our study provides evidence for the first time that emitting fewer soot particles will result in contrails disappearing from the air more quickly than contrails formed by older, dirtier engines with more soot particles.

The research results were published in the journal Environmental Research Letters on August 7th.