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.
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.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 Feb 2025
Research article |
| 27 Feb 2025
| 27 Feb 2025
Multi-model assessment of the atmospheric and radiative effects of supersonic transport aircraft
Jurriaan A. van 't Hoff
Operations & Environment, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2629 HS, the Netherlands
Didier Hauglustaine
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Johannes Pletzer
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany
Agnieszka Skowron
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M1 5GD, United Kingdom
Volker Grewe
Operations & Environment, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2629 HS, the Netherlands
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany
Sigrun Matthes
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany
Maximilian M. Meuser
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institute of Air Transport, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Robin N. Thor
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany
Operations & Environment, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2629 HS, the Netherlands
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0DY, United Kingdom
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Climate-optimized aircraft trajectories avoid atmospheric regions with a large climate impact due to aviation emissions. This requires spatially and temporally resolved information on aviation's climate impact. We propose using algorithmic climate change functions (aCCFs) for CO2 and non-CO2 effects (ozone, methane, water vapor, contrail cirrus). Merged aCCFs combine individual aCCFs by assuming aircraft-specific parameters and climate metrics. Technically this is done with a Python library.
Abolfazl Simorgh, Manuel Soler, Daniel González-Arribas, Florian Linke, Benjamin Lührs, Maximilian M. Meuser, Simone Dietmüller, Sigrun Matthes, Hiroshi Yamashita, Feijia Yin, Federica Castino, Volker Grewe, and Sabine Baumann
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3723–3748, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3723-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3723-2023, 2023
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This paper addresses the robust climate optimal trajectory planning problem under uncertain meteorological conditions within the structured airspace. Based on the optimization methodology, a Python library has been developed, which can be accessed using the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7121862. The developed tool is capable of providing robust trajectories taking into account all probable realizations of meteorological conditions provided by an EPS computationally very fast.
Robin N. Thor, Malte Niklaß, Katrin Dahlmann, Florian Linke, Volker Grewe, and Sigrun Matthes
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Preprint withdrawn
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We develop a simplied method to estimate the climate effects of single flights through CO2 and non-CO2 effects, exclusively based on the aircraft seat category as well as the origin and destination airports. The derived climate effect functions exhibit a mean relative error of only 15 % with respect to results from a climate response model. The method is designed for climate footprint assessments and covers most commerical airlines with seat capacities starting from 101 passengers.
Feijia Yin, Volker Grewe, Federica Castino, Pratik Rao, Sigrun Matthes, Katrin Dahlmann, Simone Dietmüller, Christine Frömming, Hiroshi Yamashita, Patrick Peter, Emma Klingaman, Keith P. Shine, Benjamin Lührs, and Florian Linke
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3313–3334, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3313-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3313-2023, 2023
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This paper describes a newly developed submodel ACCF V1.0 based on the MESSy 2.53.0 infrastructure. The ACCF V1.0 is based on the prototype algorithmic climate change functions (aCCFs) v1.0 to enable climate-optimized flight trajectories. One highlight of this paper is that we describe a consistent full set of aCCFs formulas with respect to fuel scenario and metrics. We demonstrate the usage of the ACCF submodel using AirTraf V2.0 to optimize trajectories for cost and climate impact.
Robin N. Thor, Mariano Mertens, Sigrun Matthes, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Sabine Brinkop, Phoebe Graf, Volker Grewe, Patrick Jöckel, and Steven Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1459–1466, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1459-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1459-2023, 2023
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We report on an inconsistency in the latitudinal distribution of aviation emissions between two versions of a data product which is widely used by researchers. From the available documentation, we do not expect such an inconsistency. We run a chemistry–climate model to compute the effect of the inconsistency in emissions on atmospheric chemistry and radiation and find that the radiative forcing associated with aviation ozone is 7.6 % higher when using the less recent version of the data.
Maureen Beaudor, Nicolas Vuichard, Juliette Lathière, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Martin Van Damme, Lieven Clarisse, and Didier Hauglustaine
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1053–1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1053-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1053-2023, 2023
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Ammonia mainly comes from the agricultural sector, and its volatilization relies on environmental variables. Our approach aims at benefiting from an Earth system model framework to estimate it. By doing so, we represent a consistent spatial distribution of the emissions' response to environmental changes.
We greatly improved the seasonal cycle of emissions compared with previous work. In addition, our model includes natural soil emissions (that are rarely represented in modeling approaches).
Joël Thanwerdas, Marielle Saunois, Isabelle Pison, Didier Hauglustaine, Antoine Berchet, Bianca Baier, Colm Sweeney, and Philippe Bousquet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15489–15508, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15489-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15489-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations have been rising since 2007, resulting from an imbalance between CH4 sources and sinks. The CH4 budget is generally estimated through top-down approaches using CH4 and δ13C(CH4) observations as constraints. The oxidation by chlorine (Cl) contributes little to the total oxidation of CH4 but strongly influences δ13C(CH4). Here, we compare multiple recent Cl fields and quantify the influence of Cl concentrations on CH4, δ13C(CH4), and CH4 budget estimates.
Johannes Pletzer, Didier Hauglustaine, Yann Cohen, Patrick Jöckel, and Volker Grewe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14323–14354, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14323-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14323-2022, 2022
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Very fast aircraft can travel long distances in extremely short times and can fly at high altitudes (15 to 35 km). These aircraft emit water vapour, nitrogen oxides, and hydrogen. Water vapour emissions remain for months to several years at these altitudes and have an important impact on temperature. We investigate two aircraft fleets flying at 26 and 35 km. Ozone is depleted more, and the water vapour perturbation and temperature change are larger for the aircraft flying at 35 km.
Jin Maruhashi, Volker Grewe, Christine Frömming, Patrick Jöckel, and Irene C. Dedoussi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14253–14282, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14253-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14253-2022, 2022
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Aviation NOx emissions lead to the formation of ozone in the atmosphere in the short term, which has a climate warming effect. This study uses global-scale simulations to characterize the transport patterns between NOx emissions at an altitude of ~ 10.4 km and the resulting ozone. Results show a strong spatial and temporal dependence of NOx in disturbing atmospheric O3 concentrations, with the location that is most impacted in terms of warming not necessarily coinciding with the emission region.
Etienne Terrenoire, Didier A. Hauglustaine, Yann Cohen, Anne Cozic, Richard Valorso, Franck Lefèvre, and Sigrun Matthes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11987–12023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11987-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11987-2022, 2022
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Aviation NOx emissions not only have an impact on global climate by changing ozone and methane levels in the atmosphere, but also contribute to the deterioration of local air quality. The LMDZ-INCA global model is applied to re-evaluate the impact of aircraft NOx and aerosol emissions on climate. We investigate the impact of present-day and future (2050) aircraft emissions on atmospheric composition and the associated radiative forcings of climate for ozone, methane and aerosol direct forcings.
Anthony Rey-Pommier, Frédéric Chevallier, Philippe Ciais, Grégoire Broquet, Theodoros Christoudias, Jonilda Kushta, Didier Hauglustaine, and Jean Sciare
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11505–11527, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11505-2022, 2022
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Emission inventories for air pollutants can be uncertain in developing countries. In order to overcome these uncertainties, we model nitrogen oxide emissions in Egypt using satellite retrievals. We detect a weekly cycle reflecting Egyptian social norms, an annual cycle consistent with electricity consumption and an activity drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, discrepancies with inventories remain high, illustrating the needs for additional data to improve the potential of our method.
Vanessa Simone Rieger and Volker Grewe
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5883–5903, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5883-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5883-2022, 2022
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Road traffic emissions of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide produce ozone in the troposphere and thus influence Earth's climate. To assess the ozone response to a broad range of mitigation strategies for road traffic, we developed a new chemistry–climate response model called TransClim. It is based on lookup tables containing climate–response relations and thus is able to quickly determine the climate response of a mitigation option.
Camille Abadie, Fabienne Maignan, Marine Remaud, Jérôme Ogée, J. Elliott Campbell, Mary E. Whelan, Florian Kitz, Felix M. Spielmann, Georg Wohlfahrt, Richard Wehr, Wu Sun, Nina Raoult, Ulli Seibt, Didier Hauglustaine, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Sauveur Belviso, David Montagne, and Philippe Peylin
Biogeosciences, 19, 2427–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, 2022
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A better constraint of the components of the carbonyl sulfide (COS) global budget is needed to exploit its potential as a proxy of gross primary productivity. In this study, we compare two representations of oxic soil COS fluxes, and we develop an approach to represent anoxic soil COS fluxes in a land surface model. We show the importance of atmospheric COS concentration variations on oxic soil COS fluxes and provide new estimates for oxic and anoxic soil contributions to the COS global budget.
Gaëlle Dufour, Didier Hauglustaine, Yunjiang Zhang, Maxim Eremenko, Yann Cohen, Audrey Gaudel, Guillaume Siour, Mathieu Lachatre, Axel Bense, Bertrand Bessagnet, Juan Cuesta, Jerry Ziemke, Valérie Thouret, and Bo Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16001–16025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16001-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16001-2021, 2021
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The IASI observations and the LMDZ-OR-INCA model simulations show negative ozone trends in the Central East China region in the lower free (3–6 km column) and the upper free (6–9 km column) troposphere. Sensitivity studies from the model show that the Chinese anthropogenic emissions contribute to more than 50 % in the trend. The reduction in NOx emissions that has occurred since 2013 in China seems to lead to a decrease in ozone in the free troposphere, contrary to the increase at the surface.
Christine Frömming, Volker Grewe, Sabine Brinkop, Patrick Jöckel, Amund S. Haslerud, Simon Rosanka, Jesper van Manen, and Sigrun Matthes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9151–9172, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9151-2021, 2021
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The influence of weather situations on non-CO2 aviation climate impact is investigated to identify systematic weather-related sensitivities. If aircraft avoid the most sensitive areas, climate impact might be reduced. Enhanced significance is found for emission in relation to high-pressure systems, jet stream, polar night, and tropopause altitude. The results represent a comprehensive data set for studies aiming at weather-dependent flight trajectory optimization to reduce total climate impact.
Nikolaos Evangeliou, Yves Balkanski, Sabine Eckhardt, Anne Cozic, Martin Van Damme, Pierre-François Coheur, Lieven Clarisse, Mark W. Shephard, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, and Didier Hauglustaine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4431–4451, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, 2021
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Ammonia, a substance that has played a key role in sustaining life, has been increasing in the atmosphere, affecting climate and humans. Understanding the reasons for this increase is important for the beneficial use of ammonia. The evolution of satellite products gives us the opportunity to calculate ammonia emissions easier. We calculated global ammonia emissions over the last 10 years, incorporated them into a chemistry model and recorded notable improvement in reproducing observations.
Simon Rosanka, Christine Frömming, and Volker Grewe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12347–12361, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12347-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12347-2020, 2020
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Aviation-attributed nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions lead to an increase in ozone and a depletion of methane. We investigate the impact of weather-related transport processes on these induced composition changes. Subsidence in high-pressure systems leads to earlier ozone maxima due to an enhanced chemical activity. Background NOx and hydroperoxyl radicals limit the total ozone change during summer and winter, respectively. High water vapour concentrations lead to a high methane depletion.
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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 NOx emissions or the cruise altitude.
Civil supersonic aircraft may return in the near future, and their emissions could lead to...
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