Study blazing new trails into effects of aviation and rocket exhaust in the atmosphere

Ross, M. N.; Friedl, Randall R.; Anderson, Donald E.; Ash, Gary; Berman, Michael R.; Gandrud, B. W.; Rawlins, W. T.; Richard, E. C.; Tuck, A. F.

doi:10.1029/99eo00316

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Information on aircraft jet fuel usage, engine efficiency, or flight frequency may be combined with a measure of the cloud-generating potential in the UT, typically moisture and temperature (Liou 1992;Sausen et al 1998;Gierens et al 1999;Minnis et al 1999;Duda et al 2005), although this method does not substitute for actual contrail observations because of the importance of synoptic meteorological conditions in contrail formation and persistence, particularly baroclinity (cf. Sassen 1997;Ross et al 1999;DeGrand et al 2000). Last, there can be a mismatch between modelgenerated analyses of UTH and the contrail cirrus cloudiness (Ovarlez et al 2000;Palikonda et al 2005), likely related to the requirement for ice supersaturation (Gierens et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Recent climate trends potentially attributed to contrail formation by commercial aviation include the following: increases in high cloudiness, reduced surface receipts of solar radiation, reductions in surface diurnal temperature range (DTR), and declines in terrestrial pan evaporation (e.g., Nicodemus and McQuigg 1969;Liepert 1997;Travis and Changnon 1997;Travis et al 2002;Matuszko 2002;Roderick and Farquhar 2002;Stordal et al 2005;Stubenrauch and Schumann 2005). A contrail-climate connection has been argued from the spatial coincidence of these trends with jet aviation attributes, particularly maxima in fuel usage, high-altitude flight-path locations, and high frequencies of contrails (Sassen 1997;Boucher 1999;Ross et al 1999;DeGrand et al 2000;Minnis et al 2003;Zerefos et al 2003;Travis et al 2004). Temporally, many trends of increased station high cloud amount on regional and subregional scales date to around the advent of commercial jet air transportation (Machta and Carpenter 1971;Seaver and Lee 1987;Liou et al 1990;Nakanishi et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Composite Atmospheric Environments of Jet Contrail Outbreaks for the United States

Carleton

Travis

Master

et al. 2008

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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The cirrus-level "condensation trails" (contrails) produced by jet aircraft are considered to influence surface climate and its recent changes. To reveal the synoptic atmospheric environments typically associated with multiple co-occurrences of contrails occurring in otherwise clear or partly cloudy skies (outbreaks) for the United States, and ultimately to assist in forecasting these events, a composite (i.e., multicase average) "synoptic climatology" at regional scales is developed for the midseason months (January, April, July, October) of 2000-02. The NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data that emphasize upper-troposphere (UT) variables are allied with manually identified outbreaks appearing on satellite Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer digital data, using a geographic information system. The highest frequencies of outbreaks by far occur in the Midwest (32.6% of all-U.S. total), followed by the Northeast (17.6%) and Southeast (17.2%). In these regions, all of which have a high density of jet air traffic, an additional 2% cirrus cloud coverage from outbreak-related contrails is inferred. Large interannual and interseasonal variations in contrail outbreak frequencies support the role of meteorological variations. For most regions, the outbreakassociated synoptic circulation composite conditions involve UT ridging and a higher and colder tropopause than the climatological average; meridionally enhanced gradients of the UT vertical motion, located between sinking air to the east (in the ridge) and rising air to the west, in advance of a trough; similarly strong gradients of mid-upper-troposphere humidity, comprising dry air located to the east and moist air to the west; and horizontal speed shear ahead of an advancing jet stream. Notwithstanding, there is a geography (i.e., areal differentiation) to contrail outbreak environments: composites for the Northeast suggest an influence of land-sea contrasts on synoptic systems and, therefore, on contrail outbreaks. For the Northwest, there is evident a greater impact of horizontal wind shear contrasted with other regions. The synoptic climatology results are supported by the all-U.S. averages of contrail outbreak UT conditions [climate diagnostics (CDNs)] previously determined for early-mid-September periods of 1995-2001. Moreover, a comparison of these CDNs with those derived for nearby thick natural clouds, including cirrus, helps to clarify their different synoptic associations: the UT conditions typical of thick clouds represent an intensification of those associated with contrail outbreaks and include the greater upward vertical motion, moister air, and stronger westerly winds characteristic of a trough. Given the location of most contrail outbreaks downstream of multilayered cloud systems, contrails may help to extend the "natural" cirrus and cirrostratus spatial coverage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Composite Atmospheric Environments of Jet Contrail Outbreaks for the United States

Carleton

Travis

Master

et al. 2008

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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“…Table 2 shows that the main uncertainties are with particle emissions. The literature on BC and alumina emissions is sparse and experimental procedures are not well described; comprehensive in situ stratospheric sampling of rocket particles is almost entirely lacking [Simmons, 1990;Ross et al, 1999]. Remote sensing suggests that BC from all hydrocarbon-fueled engines, and hypergolic and SRMs to a smaller degree, has microphysical characteristics comparable to turbine engine combustion: tens of micron diameter hydrophilic particles, possibly present in chain agglomerations [Simmons, 1990].…”

Section: Emission Indices and Stratospheric Burdenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiative forcing caused by rocket engine emissions

Ross

Sheaffer

2014

Earth's Future

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Space transportation plays an important and growing role in Earth's economic system. Rockets uniquely emit gases and particles directly into the middle and upper atmosphere where exhaust from hundreds of launches accumulates, changing atmospheric radiation patterns. The instantaneous radiative forcing (RF) caused by major rocket engine emissions CO 2 , H 2 O, black carbon (BC), and Al 2 O 3 (alumina) is estimated. Rocket CO 2 and H 2 O emissions do not produce significant RF. BC and alumina emissions, under some scenarios, have the potential to produce significant RF. Absorption of solar flux by BC is likely the main RF source from rocket launches. In a new finding, alumina particles, previously thought to cool the Earth by scattering solar flux back to space, absorb outgoing terrestrial longwave radiation, resulting in net positive RF. With the caveat that BC and alumina microphysics are poorly constrained, we find that the present-day RF from rocket launches equals 16 ± 8 mW m −2 . The relative contributions from BC, alumina, and H 2 O are 70%, 28%, and 2%. respectively. The pace of rocket launches is predicted to grow and space transport RF could become comparable to global aviation RF in coming decades. Improved understanding of rocket emission RF requires more sophisticated modeling and improved data describing particle microphysics.

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“…The stratospheric plume wake of an Athena II rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (34° 48′N, 120° 37′W) was sampled on September 24, 1999 at 66060 s universal time during the Atmospheric Chemistry of Combustion Emissions Near the Tropopause (ACCENT) mission [ Ross et al , 1999b]. The NASA WB‐57F high altitude aircraft carried a comprehensive instrument suite to measure a wide variety of gas phase and aerosol compounds [ Gates et al , 2002; Popp et al , 2002] and encountered the Athena II plume five times at an altitude of 18.7 km between 3.6 and 26.3 minutes after launch.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size‐resolved particle emission indices in the stratospheric plume of an Athena II rocket

et al. 2003

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[1] Simultaneous measurements of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) mixing ratio and alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) particle abundances between 0.004 and 1.2 mm were obtained in the stratospheric plume wake of an Athena II solid-fueled rocket motor (SRM). A multimode model of the particle size distribution is used to determine the number (N) and surface area (SA) emission indices as 8.7 ± 2.0 Â 10 15 per kg and 6.9 ± 2.1 Â 10 14 mm 2 per kg, respectively. Integration of the size distribution shows that 37% of the total SA and 8% of the total mass (M) are contained in the submicron size range (diameter < 1mm) that most influences the stratospheric impact of alumina particles emitted by SRMs. These values are significantly greater than reported by most previous studies and they imply that the annual global ozone loss associated with SRM alumina emissions is about half of the ozone loss from SRM chlorine emissions alone. Comparison of our results to previous studies raises the possibility that submicron M and SA fraction, and therefore global ozone loss, are inversely related to SRM thrust.

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Study blazing new trails into effects of aviation and rocket exhaust in the atmosphere

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Composite Atmospheric Environments of Jet Contrail Outbreaks for the United States

Composite Atmospheric Environments of Jet Contrail Outbreaks for the United States

Radiative forcing caused by rocket engine emissions

Size‐resolved particle emission indices in the stratospheric plume of an Athena II rocket

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