Articles | Volume 24, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5009-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5009-2024
Research article
 | 
29 Apr 2024
Research article |  | 29 Apr 2024

Distribution and morphology of non-persistent contrail and persistent contrail formation areas in ERA5

Kevin Wolf, Nicolas Bellouin, and Olivier Boucher

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Cited articles

Appleman, H.: The formation of exhaust condensation trails by jet aircraft, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 34, 14–20, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477-34.1.14, 1953. a, b
Avila, D., Sherry, L., and Thompson, T.: Reducing global warming by airline contrail avoidance: A case study of annual benefits for the contiguous United States, Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect., 2, 100033, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2019.100033, 2019. a
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Boucher, O., Borella, A., Gasser, T., and Hauglustaine, D.: On the contribution of global aviation to the CO2 radiative forcing of climate, Atmos. Environ., 267, 118762, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118762, 2021. a, b
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Short summary
The contrail formation potential and its tempo-spatial distribution are estimated for the North Atlantic flight corridor. Meteorological conditions of temperature and relative humidity are taken from the ERA5 re-analysis and IAGOS. Based on IAGOS flight tracks, crossing length, size, orientation, frequency of occurrence, and overlap of persistent contrail formation areas are determined. The presented conclusions might provide a guide for statistical flight track optimization to reduce contrails.
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