Commercial aircraft have made great strides in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but the exhaust fumes that waft behind them could still have long-term effects on the environment, new research suggests.
Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered that condensation signatures, or ContrailThin clouds produced by aircraft exhaust trap heat in the atmosphere. As a result, these thin cloud streaks global warming Studies have shown that this produces less carbon emissions than burning jet fuel.
“This research poses a major challenge for the aviation industry, as new aircraft fly higher and higher in the atmosphere to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” said Edward Griespirt, lead author of the study. statement“As a result of this, aircraft flying over the North Atlantic produce more and longer-lasting contrails, trapping excess heat in the atmosphere and increasing aviation’s climate impact.”
Modern commercial aircraft Altitude Above 38,000 feet (12 kilometers), the air is thinner and there is less resistance, resulting in less jet fuel consumption (and less carbon dioxide emissions), whereas private jets fly at altitudes of over 40,000 feet (12.2 kilometers). Earthan area with little air traffic, higher than older commercial aircraft, which typically fly at around 35,000 feet (11 km).
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use Machine Learning Analyze satellite Analysing data on more than 64,000 contrails from a range of aircraft flying over the North Atlantic, the researchers found that modern aircraft, both commercial and personal, produce more contrails than older aircraft and that these take longer to dissipate, which has implications for estimates of current climate warming.
“This doesn’t mean that more efficient aircraft are bad, but rather Carbon Emissions “Per passenger mile,” Griespeert said in a statement, “but our findings reflect the challenges the aviation industry faces in reducing its climate impact.”
The study offers insight into how to mitigate the effects of contrails by reducing the amount of soot emitted from them. Aircraft enginesThey are produced when fuel is burned inefficiently, which reduces the lifespan of contrails and therefore their global warming impact.
“We know from other studies that the number of soot particles present in aircraft exhaust plays an important role in the properties of newly formed contrails, and we wondered whether this might also affect the lifetime of the contrails,” Mark Stettler, co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Our study provides the first evidence that emitting fewer soot particles results in contrails that disappear from the sky more quickly compared to contrails formed with a larger number of soot particles from older, dirtier engines.”
Their findings were Released on August 7th Published in Environmental Research Letters.
