Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006
The global commercial aircraft fleet in 2006 flew 31.26 million flights, burned 188.20 million metric tons of fuel, and covered 38.68 billion kilometers. This activity emitted substantial amounts of fossil-fuel combustion products within the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere that affect atmos...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:91480a3743534bcea444dda08a0c049d 2023-05-15T15:16:09+02:00 Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 J. T. Wilkerson M. Z. Jacobson A. Malwitz S. Balasubramanian R. Wayson G. Fleming A. D. Naiman S. K. Lele 2010-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 https://doaj.org/article/91480a3743534bcea444dda08a0c049d EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/6391/2010/acp-10-6391-2010.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/91480a3743534bcea444dda08a0c049d Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 10, Iss 13, Pp 6391-6408 (2010) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 2022-12-31T01:15:32Z The global commercial aircraft fleet in 2006 flew 31.26 million flights, burned 188.20 million metric tons of fuel, and covered 38.68 billion kilometers. This activity emitted substantial amounts of fossil-fuel combustion products within the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere that affect atmospheric composition and climate. The emissions products, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur compounds, and particulate matter, are not emitted uniformly over the Earth, so understanding the temporal and spatial distributions is important for modeling aviation's climate impacts. Global commercial aircraft emission data for 2004 and 2006, provided by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, were computed using the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). Continuous improvement in methodologies, including changes in AEDT's horizontal track methodologies, and an increase in availability of data make some differences between the 2004 and 2006 inventories incomparable. Furthermore, the 2004 inventory contained a significant over-count due to an imperfect data merge and daylight savings error. As a result, the 2006 emissions inventory is considered more representative of actual flight activity. Here, we analyze both 2004 and 2006 emissions, focusing on the latter, and provide corrected totals for 2004. Analysis of 2006 flight data shows that 92.5% of fuel was burned in the Northern Hemisphere, 69.0% between 30N and 60N latitudes, and 74.6% was burned above 7 km. This activity led to 162.25 Tg of carbon from CO 2 emitted globally in 2006, more than half over three regions: the United States (25.5%), Europe (14.6), and East Asia (11.1). Despite receiving less than one percent of global emissions, the Arctic receives a uniformly dispersed concentration of emissions with 95.2% released at altitude where they have longer residence time than surface emissions. Finally, 85.2% of all flights by number in 2006 were short-haul missions, yet those flights were ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 10 13 6391 6408 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
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Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 J. T. Wilkerson M. Z. Jacobson A. Malwitz S. Balasubramanian R. Wayson G. Fleming A. D. Naiman S. K. Lele Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
The global commercial aircraft fleet in 2006 flew 31.26 million flights, burned 188.20 million metric tons of fuel, and covered 38.68 billion kilometers. This activity emitted substantial amounts of fossil-fuel combustion products within the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere that affect atmospheric composition and climate. The emissions products, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur compounds, and particulate matter, are not emitted uniformly over the Earth, so understanding the temporal and spatial distributions is important for modeling aviation's climate impacts. Global commercial aircraft emission data for 2004 and 2006, provided by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, were computed using the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). Continuous improvement in methodologies, including changes in AEDT's horizontal track methodologies, and an increase in availability of data make some differences between the 2004 and 2006 inventories incomparable. Furthermore, the 2004 inventory contained a significant over-count due to an imperfect data merge and daylight savings error. As a result, the 2006 emissions inventory is considered more representative of actual flight activity. Here, we analyze both 2004 and 2006 emissions, focusing on the latter, and provide corrected totals for 2004. Analysis of 2006 flight data shows that 92.5% of fuel was burned in the Northern Hemisphere, 69.0% between 30N and 60N latitudes, and 74.6% was burned above 7 km. This activity led to 162.25 Tg of carbon from CO 2 emitted globally in 2006, more than half over three regions: the United States (25.5%), Europe (14.6), and East Asia (11.1). Despite receiving less than one percent of global emissions, the Arctic receives a uniformly dispersed concentration of emissions with 95.2% released at altitude where they have longer residence time than surface emissions. Finally, 85.2% of all flights by number in 2006 were short-haul missions, yet those flights were ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. T. Wilkerson M. Z. Jacobson A. Malwitz S. Balasubramanian R. Wayson G. Fleming A. D. Naiman S. K. Lele |
author_facet |
J. T. Wilkerson M. Z. Jacobson A. Malwitz S. Balasubramanian R. Wayson G. Fleming A. D. Naiman S. K. Lele |
author_sort |
J. T. Wilkerson |
title |
Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
title_short |
Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
title_full |
Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
title_fullStr |
Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
title_sort |
analysis of emission data from global commercial aviation: 2004 and 2006 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 https://doaj.org/article/91480a3743534bcea444dda08a0c049d |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 10, Iss 13, Pp 6391-6408 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/6391/2010/acp-10-6391-2010.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/91480a3743534bcea444dda08a0c049d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6391-2010 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
6391 |
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6408 |
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