Formation and radiative forcing of contrail cirrus.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29739923.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-04068-0 and PMC identifier 5940853.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Aircraft-produced contrail cirrus clouds contribute to anthropogenic climate change. Observational data sets and modelling approaches have become available that clarify formation pathways close to the source aircraft and lead to estimates of the global distribution of their microphysical and optical properties. While contrail cirrus enhance the impact of natural clouds on climate, uncertainties remain regarding their properties and lifecycle. Progress in representing aircraft emissions, contrail cirrus and natural cirrus in global climate models together with tighter constraints on the sensitivity of the climate system will help judge efficiencies of and trade-offs between mitigation options.