Aviation’s environmental footprint extends beyond just CO2. Non-CO2 effects like nitrogen oxide emissions and contrails also significantly influence climate change. Although contrails may seem minor, their cumulative warming effect could notably contribute to global warming by 2050. Understanding and mitigating this impact is essential for a more sustainable aviation future.
Collaborative Efforts to Reduce Contrail Impact
Several airlines are testing flight rerouting strategies to avoid contrail formation, particularly during night flights or seasons with less crowded airspace. Adjusting flight altitude or path has shown promising results in reducing contrail-related warming without significantly increasing fuel consumption or flight time. Technology is playing a key role in these efforts.
For example, the Contrail Tracker interface, developed through collaboration between French companies and research centers, allows real-time comparison between predicted contrails and those detected by ground-based imagers. This tool helps airlines refine rerouting protocols and maximize environmental benefits. In one case, an airline reduced its climate impact by 40% by slightly adjusting flight altitudes.
All-sky imagers critical for validation
French company SII, in partnership with Reuniwatt, developed the Contrail Tracker interface, a specialized tool designed to help understand and mitigate the climate impact of aviation contrails. This interface integrates the CoCiP (Contrail Cirrus Prediction) model, which simulates and predicts the formation and behavior of contrails in the atmosphere. Contrail Tracker enables users to visualize these modeled contrails and directly compare them with actual contrails observed by Reuniwatt’s ground-based all-sky imagers, which capture real-time contrail formation and evolution.
Read our article published in the latest edition of Meteorological Technology International, to learn how Reuniwatt’s all-sky imagers provide detailed and continuous monitoring of contrails from their inception:
