Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-403-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-403-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
10 Jan 2017
Research article |
| 10 Jan 2017
Properties of individual contrails: a compilation of observations and some comparisons
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für
Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Robert Baumann
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für
Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Darrel Baumgardner
Droplet Measurement Technologies Inc., Boulder, CO, USA
Sarah T. Bedka
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, USA
David P. Duda
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, USA
Volker Freudenthaler
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Meteorologisches Institut,
Munich, Germany
Jean-Francois Gayet
Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique, CNRS,
Clermont-Ferrand, France
Andrew J. Heymsfield
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
Patrick Minnis
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
Markus Quante
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of Coastal Research,
Geesthacht, Germany
Ehrhard Raschke
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and University of Hamburg,
Hamburg, Germany
Hans Schlager
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für
Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Margarita Vázquez-Navarro
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für
Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Christiane Voigt
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für
Physik der Atmosphäre, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Institut für Physik der
Atmosphäre, Mainz, Germany
Zhien Wang
University of Wyoming, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Laramie,
WY, USA
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55 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Upper tropospheric water vapour and its interaction with cirrus clouds as seen from IAGOS long-term routine in situ observations A. Petzold et al. 10.1039/C7FD00006E
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- On the correlation between hygroscopic properties and chemical composition of cloud condensation nuclei obtained from the chemical aging of soot particles with O3 and SO2 J. Wu et al. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167745
- Assessing the Environmental Impact of Aircraft/Engine Integration With Respect to Contrails J. Ramsay et al. 10.1115/1.4066150
- Impact of host climate model on contrail cirrus effective radiative forcing estimates W. Zhang et al. 10.5194/acp-25-473-2025
- Long-lived contrails and convective cirrus above the tropical tropopause U. Schumann et al. 10.5194/acp-17-2311-2017
- Monte Carlo Simulations in Aviation Contrail Study: A Review D. Bianco et al. 10.3390/app12125885
- The effect of uncertainty in humidity and model parameters on the prediction of contrail energy forcing J. Platt et al. 10.1088/2515-7620/ad6ee5
- Radiative Forcing of Climate: The Historical Evolution of the Radiative Forcing Concept, the Forcing Agents and their Quantification, and Applications V. Ramaswamy et al. 10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-19-0001.1
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- Mitigating the Climate Impact from Aviation: Achievements and Results of the DLR WeCare Project V. Grewe et al. 10.3390/aerospace4030034
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- Segregated supply of Sustainable Aviation Fuel to reduce contrail energy forcing – demonstration and potentials G. Quante et al. 10.1016/j.jatrs.2024.100049
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- Airborne Measurements of Contrail Ice Properties—Dependence on Temperature and Humidity T. Bräuer et al. 10.1029/2020GL092166
- The Role of Mineral Dust Aerosol Particles in Aviation Soot‐Cirrus Interactions B. Kärcher et al. 10.1029/2022JD037881
- Contrail radiative dependence on ice particle number concentration R. De León & D. Lee 10.1088/2752-5295/ace6c6
- Contrail altitude estimation using GOES-16 ABI data and deep learning V. Meijer et al. 10.5194/amt-17-6145-2024
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- Ground-based contrail observations: comparisons with reanalysis weather data and contrail model simulations J. Low et al. 10.5194/amt-18-37-2025
- The influence of HCl on the evaporation rates of H2O over water ice in the range 188 to 210 K at small average concentrations C. Delval & M. Rossi 10.5194/acp-18-15903-2018
- The challenge of simulating the sensitivity of the Amazonian cloud microstructure to cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations P. Polonik et al. 10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020
- Operational differences lead to longer lifetimes of satellite detectable contrails from more fuel efficient aircraft E. Gryspeerdt et al. 10.1088/1748-9326/ad5b78
- Formation and radiative forcing of contrail cirrus B. Kärcher 10.1038/s41467-018-04068-0
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- Targeted use of paraffinic kerosene: Potentials and implications G. Quante et al. 10.1016/j.aeaoa.2024.100279
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- Observations of microphysical properties and radiative effects of a contrail cirrus outbreak over the North Atlantic Z. Wang et al. 10.5194/acp-23-1941-2023
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- Impact of Parametrizing Microphysical Processes in the Jet and Vortex Phase on Contrail Cirrus Properties and Radiative Forcing A. Bier & U. Burkhardt 10.1029/2022JD036677
- On the Life Cycle of Individual Contrails and Contrail Cirrus U. Schumann & A. Heymsfield 10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-16-0005.1
- High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe B. Urbanek et al. 10.1029/2018GL079345
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- Regional and Seasonal Dependence of the Potential Contrail Cover and the Potential Contrail Cirrus Cover over Europe R. Dischl et al. 10.3390/aerospace9090485
- A Large-Eddy Simulation Study of Contrail Ice Number Formation D. Lewellen 10.1175/JAS-D-19-0322.1
- The contribution of global aviation to anthropogenic climate forcing for 2000 to 2018 D. Lee et al. 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117834
- Cleaner burning aviation fuels can reduce contrail cloudiness C. Voigt et al. 10.1038/s43247-021-00174-y
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- Factors limiting contrail detection in satellite imagery O. Driver et al. 10.5194/amt-18-1115-2025
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- Multi-objective optimization of high altitude sector operation based on environmental protection Y. Tian et al. 10.1007/s10586-018-2615-z
- Addressing Confidence in Modeling of Contrail Formation from E-Fuels in Aviation Using Large Eddy Simulation Parametrization E. Cabrera & J. de Sousa 10.3390/en17061442
- Powering aircraft with 100 % sustainable aviation fuel reduces ice crystals in contrails R. Märkl et al. 10.5194/acp-24-3813-2024
- Statistical analysis of contrail to cirrus evolution during the Contrail and Cirrus Experiment (CONCERT) A. Chauvigné et al. 10.5194/acp-18-9803-2018
- Impacts of multi-layer overlap on contrail radiative forcing I. Sanz-Morère et al. 10.5194/acp-21-1649-2021
- Upper-tropospheric slightly ice-subsaturated regions: frequency of occurrence and statistical evidence for the appearance of contrail cirrus Y. Li et al. 10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023
- ML-CIRRUS: The Airborne Experiment on Natural Cirrus and Contrail Cirrus with the High-Altitude Long-Range Research Aircraft HALO C. Voigt et al. 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00213.1
- Intercomparison of midlatitude tropospheric and lower-stratospheric water vapor measurements and comparison to ECMWF humidity data S. Kaufmann et al. 10.5194/acp-18-16729-2018
1 citations as recorded by crossref.
Latest update: 18 May 2025
Short summary
The initially linear clouds often seen behind aircraft are known as contrails. Contrails are prototype cirrus clouds forming under well-known conditions, but with less certain life cycle and climate effects. This paper collects contrail data from a large set of measurements and compares them among each other and with models. The observations show consistent contrail properties over a wide range of aircraft and atmosphere conditions. The dataset is available for further research.
The initially linear clouds often seen behind aircraft are known as contrails. Contrails are...
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