If you look up at the sky on a clear day, chances are you’ll notice thin, white clouds following behind airplanes— also known as contrails.
If you look up at the sky on a clear day, chances are you’ll notice thin, white clouds following behind airplanes— also known as contrails.
The formation of these wispy ice clouds is a complex process that involves the mixing of hot exhaust gases with cold air. Depending on the atmospheric conditions, contrail ice particles can last for a short time or persist for several hours or longer. Before dissipating, they trap heat that would otherwise be released into space, contributing to climate change.
A study that looked at aviation’s contribution to climate change between 2000 and 2018 concluded that contrails create 57 percent of the industry’s warming impact, significantly more than the CO2 emissions from burning fuel.
Fangqun Yu, a senior research faculty at the University at Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, has developed an advanced model for simulating contrail formation and published several scientific papers on the formation and properties of contrail ice particles.
Read More: University at Albany, SUNY
Photo Credit: valentinhintikka via Pixabay
