The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing
Air traffic condensation trails, or contrails, are believed to have a net atmospheric warming effect(1), although one that is currently small compared to that induced by other sources of human emissions. However, the comparably large growth rate of air traffic requires an improved understanding of t...
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ftunivreading:oai:centaur.reading.ac.uk:5273 2024-02-11T10:06:34+01:00 The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing Stuber, N. Forster, P. Radel, G. Shine, K. 2006 https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/5273/ unknown Stuber, N. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000895.html>, Forster, P., Radel, G. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000793.html> and Shine, K. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000340.html> orcid:0000-0003-2672-9978 (2006) The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing. Nature, 441 (7095). pp. 864-867. 551 Geology hydrology meteorology Article NonPeerReviewed 2006 ftunivreading 2024-01-25T23:49:50Z Air traffic condensation trails, or contrails, are believed to have a net atmospheric warming effect(1), although one that is currently small compared to that induced by other sources of human emissions. However, the comparably large growth rate of air traffic requires an improved understanding of the resulting impact of aircraft radiative forcing on climate(2). Contrails have an effect on the Earth's energy balance similar to that of high thin ice clouds(3). Their trapping of outgoing longwave radiation emitted by the Earth and atmosphere (positive radiative forcing) is partly compensated by their reflection of incoming solar radiation (negative radiative forcing). On average, the longwave effect dominates and the net contrail radiative forcing is believed to be positive(1,2,4). Over daily and annual timescales, varying levels of air traffic, meteorological conditions, and solar insolation influence the net forcing effect of contrails. Here we determine the factors most important for contrail climate forcing using a sophisticated radiative transfer model(5,6) for a site in southeast England, located in the entrance to the North Atlantic flight corridor. We find that night-time flights during winter (December to February) are responsible for most of the contrail radiative forcing. Night flights account for only 25 per cent of daily air traffic, but contribute 60 to 80 per cent of the contrail forcing. Further, winter flights account for only 22 per cent of annual air traffic, but contribute half of the annual mean forcing. These results suggest that flight rescheduling could help to minimize the climate impact of aviation. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic CentAUR: Central Archive at the University of Reading |
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CentAUR: Central Archive at the University of Reading |
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551 Geology hydrology meteorology |
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551 Geology hydrology meteorology Stuber, N. Forster, P. Radel, G. Shine, K. The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
topic_facet |
551 Geology hydrology meteorology |
description |
Air traffic condensation trails, or contrails, are believed to have a net atmospheric warming effect(1), although one that is currently small compared to that induced by other sources of human emissions. However, the comparably large growth rate of air traffic requires an improved understanding of the resulting impact of aircraft radiative forcing on climate(2). Contrails have an effect on the Earth's energy balance similar to that of high thin ice clouds(3). Their trapping of outgoing longwave radiation emitted by the Earth and atmosphere (positive radiative forcing) is partly compensated by their reflection of incoming solar radiation (negative radiative forcing). On average, the longwave effect dominates and the net contrail radiative forcing is believed to be positive(1,2,4). Over daily and annual timescales, varying levels of air traffic, meteorological conditions, and solar insolation influence the net forcing effect of contrails. Here we determine the factors most important for contrail climate forcing using a sophisticated radiative transfer model(5,6) for a site in southeast England, located in the entrance to the North Atlantic flight corridor. We find that night-time flights during winter (December to February) are responsible for most of the contrail radiative forcing. Night flights account for only 25 per cent of daily air traffic, but contribute 60 to 80 per cent of the contrail forcing. Further, winter flights account for only 22 per cent of annual air traffic, but contribute half of the annual mean forcing. These results suggest that flight rescheduling could help to minimize the climate impact of aviation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stuber, N. Forster, P. Radel, G. Shine, K. |
author_facet |
Stuber, N. Forster, P. Radel, G. Shine, K. |
author_sort |
Stuber, N. |
title |
The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
title_short |
The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
title_full |
The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
title_fullStr |
The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
title_full_unstemmed |
The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
title_sort |
importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/5273/ |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Stuber, N. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000895.html>, Forster, P., Radel, G. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000793.html> and Shine, K. <https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90000340.html> orcid:0000-0003-2672-9978 (2006) The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing. Nature, 441 (7095). pp. 864-867. |
_version_ |
1790604368585687040 |