contrails affect global warming

[nytecam]

I'm a bit of a skywatcher and jet contrails [that rapidly turn to cirrus] are a common sight in SE England in the morning with inbound flights from the States to Europe. I'm advised contrails effect global warming but flying higher would reduce this as the contrails wouldn't form Any thoughts?

My video clip [shameless plug] here shows the 'trails trying to spoil my astronomy and the leftovers are still there at night

[Paul mabbott]

For sure, airplane exhaust causes pseudo-cirrus cloud formation and this would, obviously, affect the heat and other wethaer conditions below the cloud. How significant this is I have no idea - and would be interested to learn.
It's probably minor in comparison to the climate effect of jet engine fuel usage and pollution in general.

[Pete84]

i did read somewhere that after 9-11 and the subsequent ban/reduction of flights over the us that the average temp rose by a small amount and then went back down after 'normal service' was resumed . so it does seem that contrails do affect the planet's albedo and therefore global warming.

[Rich_]

I've heard that a 747 burns about five gallons of fuel to the mile,about one gallon per second !

[Bumblebeebob]

Originally Posted by Pete84

i did read somewhere that after 9-11 and the subsequent ban/reduction of flights over the us that the average temp rose by a small amount and then went back down after 'normal service' was resumed . so it does seem that contrails do affect the planet's albedo and therefore global warming.

I also read somewhere that this may have just been coincidental with the weather patterns at that time so it wasn't conclusive.

[Rob_D]

They seem to cover the sky here in N Herts with Luton and Stansted nearby. I could imagine they might have an effect over the local area, but not enough of them on a global scale is there?

There was a Horizon programme about the 9-11 effect.

[Bullseye]

There is a slight chance they could affect Global Weather,as water vapour is a much more powerful "greenhouse gas" then CO2 !,yes that means clouds !,but it could be offset by the albedo effect of them,basically no one knows yet despite what has been published about it.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by kangaroo

Global Warming is affected by so many reasons such as CO2 released, gas emissions, air pollution, etc...This is a dangerous issue that we have to watch out

There's plenty of hand wringing going on, but that alone won't halt the process.

I firmly beleive it's too late anyway!

Jim

[Bullseye]

You know,we should all be really concerned about the state of the planet.Because for the last 40 years I remember we've been told by "leading scientists" that (and in the 1970's and 80's these catastrophies would happen by 2001), "The Oceans will be devoid of life", "The land will be so polluted that life will not survive", "It will be constant winter because the sunlight will not pass through the polluted atmosphere", "Acid rain will burn the skin from our bodies", "We will all get skin cancer because of no Ozone Layer","Oil,coal and gas will run out by the year,.....well take your pick from 2001 onwards", plus all the pandemics like flu's,AIDS, mutant virus's wipeing out between 10 to 50% of the population.Nowadays I find myself becoming a teeny weeny bit sceptical about anything a "leading scientist" says,but there again todays scientists rely on concensus (and trying to please whoever pays their funding) not actual science,so they must be better !. "What's that Sooty ?,you think I'm a bit cynical ?,only when the Bullsh*tometer goes of the scale Sooty,only then".

[captaincarot]

Originally Posted by Bumblebeebob

I also read somewhere that this may have just been coincidental with the weather patterns at that time so it wasn't conclusive.

it is fact though that the daytime temperatures when the planes were banned from flying were 1 degree higher than normal and nighttime temperatures 1 degree colder than normal.
which disappeared shortly after the planes were allowed back into the skies