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Aviation and the Global Atmosphere

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<strong>Aviation</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Atmosphere</strong><br />

Aircraft emission of water vapor <strong>and</strong> particles, as well as <strong>the</strong> creation of contrails, could lead to a change in global cloudiness. Some atmospheric GCM studies that<br />

have looked at <strong>the</strong> impacts of injecting water vapor or creating contrails (e.g., Ponater et al., 1996; Rind et al. 1996) point to <strong>the</strong> potential importance of <strong>the</strong>se effects on<br />

climate, but <strong>the</strong>se pilot studies cannot be used directly in this assessment. Persistent contrails clearly related to aircraft are detectable, however, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir impact on<br />

radiative forcing can be evaluated. Section 3.6 (see Table 3-9) estimates direct radiative forcing from persistent contrails to be +0.02 (+0.005 to +0.06) W m-2 in 1992<br />

(see also Table 6-1). This estimate is limited to immediately visible, quasi-linear persistent contrails.<br />

Whereas contrail formation <strong>and</strong> associated radiative forcing is an obvious <strong>and</strong> visible consequence of aircraft activity, <strong>the</strong> secondary, indirect effect of aerosols from<br />

aircraft on <strong>the</strong> microphysical <strong>and</strong> radiative properties of clouds is a very complex issue that has received little attention <strong>and</strong> is very difficult to quantify (Seinfeld, 1998).<br />

Some significant steps in quantifying <strong>the</strong> indirect effect from anthropogenic aerosols have been made (e.g., Jones et al., 1994; Boucher <strong>and</strong> Lohmann, 1995). The<br />

effects of aerosol particles from aircraft emissions on clouds are more complicated because nucleation <strong>and</strong> subsequent growth of ice crystals that make up cirrus<br />

clouds are more complex <strong>and</strong> less studied than for water clouds. Cirrus cloud generally exert positive forcing because longwave positive radiative forcing is of a larger<br />

magnitude than solar negative radiative forcing. Section 3.6.5 (see Table 3-9) estimates that radiative forcing from aircraft-induced cirrus is positive <strong>and</strong> may be<br />

comparable to contrail RF. The magnitude of this RF remains very uncertain. No best estimate is given in Tables 6-1 <strong>and</strong> 6-2, but a range for <strong>the</strong> best estimate could<br />

fall between 0 <strong>and</strong> 0.04 W m-2.<br />

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O<strong>the</strong>r reports in this collection<br />

http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/aviation/079.htm (2 von 2)08.05.2008 02:43:06<br />

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