Small changes to aircraft flight paths to avoid contrails could reduce aviation’s global warming impact by nearly half, according to a study.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, suggests that changing cruising altitude by a few thousand feet, either up or down, could prevent contrails from forming.
Contrails, or vapour trails, are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure, typically at aircraft cruising altitudes several kilometres above the Earth’s surface.
While the exact warming effect of contrails is uncertain, it is believed to be greater than warming caused by aviation’s CO2 emissions. Although modern commercial aircraft emit less carbon than their predecessors, previous studies have shown they could be contributing more to climate change due to their longer-lived contrails.
As such, interest in contrail avoidance has grown rapidly in recent years as governments and airlines search for ways to reduce aviation’s climate...