Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5495-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5495-2024
Research article
 | 
14 May 2024
Research article |  | 14 May 2024

Variability in the properties of the distribution of the relative humidity with respect to ice: implications for contrail formation

Sidiki Sanogo, Olivier Boucher, Nicolas Bellouin, Audran Borella, Kevin Wolf, and Susanne Rohs

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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
Beswick, K., Baumgardner, D., Gallagher, M., Raga, G. B., Minnis, P., Spangenberg, D. A., Volz-Thomas, A., Nedelec, P., and Wang, K.-Y.: Properties of small cirrus ice crystals from commercial aircraft measurements and implications for flight operations, Tellus B, 67, 27876, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v67.27876, 2015. a
Bickel, M.: Climate impact of contrail cirrus, DLR-Forschungsbericht DLR-FB-2023-14, Dissertation, PhD thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, p. 133, https://doi.org/10.57676/mzmg-r403, 2023. a
Boulanger, D., Thouret, V., and Petzold, A.: IAGOS Data Portal, AERIS [data set], https://doi.org/10.25326/20, 2020. a
Dekoutsidis, G., Groß, S., Wirth, M., Krämer, M., and Rolf, C.: Characteristics of supersaturation in midlatitude cirrus clouds and their adjacent cloud-free air, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3103–3117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023, 2023. a
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Relative humidity relative to ice (RHi) is a key variable in the formation of cirrus clouds and contrails. This study shows that the properties of the probability density function of RHi differ between the tropics and higher latitudes. In line with RHi and temperature variability, aircraft are likely to produce more contrails with bioethanol and liquid hydrogen as fuel. The impact of this fuel change decreases with decreasing pressure levels but increases from high latitudes to the tropics.
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