Multi-model assessment of the atmospheric and radiative effects of supersonic transport aircraft

van 't Hoff, Jurriaan A.; Hauglustaine, Didier; Pletzer, Johannes; Skowron, Agnieszka; Grewe, Volker; Matthes, Sigrun; Meuser, Maximilian M.; Thor, Robin N.; Dedoussi, Irene C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2515-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2515-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2515-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 4

Research article

|

27 Feb 2025

Research article |

| 27 Feb 2025

Multi-model assessment of the atmospheric and radiative effects of supersonic transport aircraft

Jurriaan A. van 't Hoff, Didier Hauglustaine, Johannes Pletzer, Agnieszka Skowron, Volker Grewe, Sigrun Matthes, Maximilian M. Meuser, Robin N. Thor, and Irene C. Dedoussi

Data sets

Supporting dataset for "Multi-model assessment of the atmospheric and radiative effects of supersonic transport aircraft" Jurriaan A. van 't Hoff et al. https://doi.org/10.4121/dd38833d-6c5d-47d8-bb10-7535ce1eecf1

Model code and software

The Modular Earth Submodel System (2.55.2) The MESSy Consortium https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8360276

geoschem/GCHP: GCHP 14.1.1 The International GEOS-Chem User Community https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7696683

geoschem/GCHP: GCHP 14.3.0 (14.3.0) The International GEOS-Chem User Community https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10640559

Matplotlib: Visualization with Python (v3.8.0) The Matplotlib Development Team https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8347255

xarray (v2023.09.0) Stephan Hoyer et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8379187

Dask; Library for dynamic task scheduling, v2023.10.0 Dask Development Team https://dask.pydata.org

Interactive chemistry in the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique general circulation model: Description and background tropospheric chemistry evaluation (https://forge.ipsl.fr/igcmg_doc/wiki/Doc/Config/LMDZORINCA) Didier A. Hauglustaine et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JD003957

Python 3.11 Python Software Foundation https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3110/

Description and evaluation of the Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers, version 4 (MOZART-4) (https://www2.acom.ucar.edu/gcm/mozart-4) L. K. Emmons et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-43-2010

Short summary

Civil supersonic aircraft may return in the near future, and their emissions could lead to atmospheric changes which are detrimental to public health and the climate. We use four atmospheric chemistry models and show that emissions from a future supersonic aircraft fleet increase stratospheric nitrogen and water vapor levels, while depleting the global ozone column and leading to increases in radiative forcing. Their impacts can be reduced by reducing NO_x emissions or the cruise altitude.