Method for calculating Net Radiative Forcing from contrails from airline operations

Condensation trails are long, thin clouds that are generated under certain atmospheric conditions by jet engine aircraft and can persist for up to 5 hours. These clouds are highly transparent to shortwave radiation and marginally transparent to outgoing longwave radiation, the net effect is anthropogenic (i.e. human made) enhanced atmospheric greenhouse warming. This paper describes a comprehensive methodology for modeling the presence and duration of contrails, and the resulting net radiative forcing given a flight profile, atmospheric conditions, and fuel burn/ CO2 emissions. The model is described and a case study of the combined effect of Radiative Forcing (RF) produced by CO2 and the cirrus contrail. Results show the trade-off between RF induced by the CO2 resulting from trajectory changes to reduce RF from contrails.

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