Abstract
Condensation trails, or so‐called contrails, formed by freezing of ice crystals in the exhaust from aircraft jet engines, could affect climate. Like natural cirrus clouds, contrails change atmospheric temperatures not only by blocking sunlight from reaching the Earth's surface but also by preventing terrestrial radiation from escaping the Earth's atmosphere. However, contrails' effects on climate are not well constrained because few studies of contrail properties exist, and hence, their microphysical properties are poorly known. In a new study, Voigt et al. directly measured ice particle sizes and numbers in 14 contrails from nine different aircraft of the present‐day commercial fleet, including the largest operating passenger aircraft. They obtained an extensive data set of contrails from which they determined the contrail optical depth, a measure of how much light is attenuated by these man‐made clouds. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047189, 2011)
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