CSB#6: Vapor left by Airplanes Speed up Global Warming

Contrails, the white streaks of vapor left behind by airplanes, accelerate the rate at which the globe warms. According to Reuters Magazine, the vapor increases the production of cirrus clouds in the atmosphere, which trap heat in the atmosphere. Apparently, as the lines break up, more cirrus clouds are formed, and they block the radiation exiting Earth from reaching space.

Even more shocking, the cirrus clouds and air trails left by the plane are proposed to contribute to the warming of the earth more than the actual CO2 emissions of the plane do, according to the journal Nature Climate Change. Contrails and the clouds left by them are heating the Earth by 31 milliwatts per square meter at any one moment. CO2 emissions from the planes, however, only heat the earth by 28 milliwatts per square meter.

These findings will have a large variety of impacts, from new global warming laws to new innovations. The study might encourage the United Nations to change their imposed penalties on planes' greenhouse gas emissions. Olivier Boucher, who wrote about a similar concept, predicted that air traffic will be changed and planes might fly routes where there is less humidity and less chance of cirrus production. Finally, the findings will spur inventions of environmentally friendly equipment. One possible idea is an engine that condenses the vapor before it leaves and releases it in the form of ice crystals or drops, which would quickly fall to the Earth.

It is frightening to think that a concept that we deemed negligible might actually pose a larger threat to the planet than what we had been focusing on. If more findings like this are found, it might be necessary to adapt our plan to stop global warming. It is interesting that vapor can create such a large impact on the environment indirectly. Possible ways to deal with vapor emission are flying at lower altitudes, possibly below other clouds, and as stated before, flying in areas with lower humidity. These new findings pose new problems that hinder our efforts to help the environment, but when solved, we will truly be on the way to stopping global warming.

Citations:
Doyle, Alister. "Aircraft contrails stoke warming, cloud formation." Reuters 29
     Mar. 2011: n. pag. Reuters. Web. 8 Apr. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/
     article/2011/03/29/us-climate-contrails-idUSTRE72S47O20110329>.
Picture URL:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/externalnews/2011-03-29T154017Z_01_BTRE72S17J800_RTROPTP_2_ENVIRONMENT-US-CLIMATE-CONTRAILS.JPG