Contrail observations over Southern and Eastern Asia in NOAA/AVHRR data and comparisons to contrail simulations in a GCM

For the first time the contrail cover for a region covering Thailand and surrounding regions as well as for the region of Japan and its surroundings are determined by remote sensing observations. Locally received NOAA/AVHRR satellite data are analysed by a fully automated contrail detection algorithm. For both regions approx. 400 NOAA‐14 satellite scenes from four months of the year 1998 were analysed. Both regions show sufficient air traffic to produce an observable amount of contrails. Thus we are able to measure for the first time contrail frequencies in the tropics and compare it to a nearby mid latitudinal region. The annual average of the daily mean contrail cloud coverage is 0.13% for the Thailand region and about 0.25% for the Japan region. For both regions the contrail cover is largest during spring. The daily cycle shows surprisingly high contrail coverage during night in spite of lower air traffic densities during night time. The satellite observed contrail cover is compared with simulations of contrails by use of the general circulation model ECHAM4 related to air traffic emissions of 1992. While the derived patterns of the regional contrail distributions agree well, the contrail coverage derived from satellite data is larger than the simulated coverage. This discrepancy appears to be mainly due to an increase in air traffic in the time period between the model study and the observations.

[1]  An Investigation on the Climatic Effect of Contrail Cirrus , 1990 .

[2]  R. Sausen,et al.  Contrails in a comprehensive global climate model: Parameterization and radiative forcing results , 2002 .

[3]  U. Schumann.  Über Bedingungen zur Bildung von Kondensstreifen aus Flugzeugabgasen , 1996 .

[4]  S. Bakan,et al.  Contrail frequency over Europe from NOAA-satellite images , 1994 .

[5]  Jan-Peter Muller,et al.  The EU‐CLOUDMAP project: Cirrus and contrail cloud‐top maps from satellites for weather forecasting climate change analysis , 2007 .

[6]  J. Meywerk,et al.  インド洋実験(INDOEX)時の,海面における全・分光輝度に及ぼす人工エーロゾル粒子の影響 , 2002 .

[7]  Hermann Mannstein,et al.  Operational detection of contrails from NOAA-AVHRR-data , 1999 .

[8]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Global distribution of contrail radiative forcing , 1999 .

[9]  R. Sausen,et al.  Simulating the global atmospheric response to aircraft water vapour emissions and contrails: a first approach using a GCM , 1996 .

[10]  A. Schmitt,et al.  Emissions from aviation and their development over time , 1997 .

[11]  M. Claussen,et al.  The atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM-4: Model description and simulation of present-day climate , 1996 .

[12]  R. Lindzen,et al.  Distribution of Tropical Tropospheric Water Vapor , 1993 .

[13]  Ulrich Schumann,et al.  Regional radiative forcing by line-shaped contrails derived from satellite data , 2002 .

[14]  Richard C. Miake-Lye,et al.  Environmental conditions required for contrail formation and persistence , 1998 .

[15]  U. Schumann.  On conditions for contrail formation from aircraft exhausts , 1996 .

[16]  E. Möbius,et al.  Charge states of energetic (≈0.5 MeV/n) ions in corotating interaction regions at 1 AU and implications on source populations , 2002 .

[17]  Towards a reliable GCM estimation of contrail radiative forcing , 2002 .

[18]  Influence of weather conditions on the distribution of persistent contrails , 1999 .

[19]  Robert Sausen,et al.  A Diagnostic Study of the Global Distribution of Contrails Part I: Present Day Climateast; , 1998 .

[20]  Robert Sausen,et al.  A Diagnostic Study of the Global Distribution of Contrails Part II: Future Air Traffic Scenarios , 1999 .

[21]  J. Penner,et al.  Aviation and the Global Atmosphere , 1999 .

[22]  Estimation of Contrail Frequency and Radiative Effects over the Taiwan Area , 2001 .

[23]  Petra M. Udelhofen,et al.  Influence of tropical cloud systems on the relative humidity in the upper troposphere , 1995 .

[24]  B. Strauss,et al.  On the regional climatic impact of contrails: microphysical and radiative properties of contrails and natural cirrus clouds , 1997 .