It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
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Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#2[deleted]
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#3Really interesting that certain types of cloud formation (including those created by aircraft) can actually increase mean surface temperature. I had always assumed that the reflection of sunlight outweighed the insulating effect. Does anyone have a link to some kind of model that explains the factors in this?
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#4Original paper (pdf): https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/8163/2019/acp-19-8163-201...
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#5Wonder how much contrails are created by rockets? If we'd move the travel above the atmosphere, how much could be saved?
An alternative is to move back to slower propeller planes, maybe with electric motors (improving over Tu-95?) but that would increase flight times.
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#6Wonder how much contrails are created by rockets? If we'd move the travel above the atmosphere, how much could be saved? An alternative is to move back to slower propeller planes, maybe with electric motors (improving over Tu-95?) but that would increase flight times.
Aren’t those less efficient and less reliable as well? I don't see going back to props. What's the mean time before overhaul on both? Also lower ceiling.
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#7Wonder how much contrails are created by rockets? If we'd move the travel above the atmosphere, how much could be saved? An alternative is to move back to slower propeller planes, maybe with electric motors (improving over Tu-95?) but that would increase flight times.
Aren’t those less efficient and less reliable as well? I don't see going back to props. What's the mean time before overhaul on both? Also lower ceiling.
Rockets - perhaps, for today, but maybe they could be improved.
Propeller planes - why? They were used for long time and many technologies are quite mature.
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#8During the 9/11 aircraft grounding, climatologists had a pretty unique chance to measure temperature variance compared to historical data.
Just the few days of data showed that days became warmer and nights became cooler. I pretty much had no idea that just trails could impact weather so noticeably until I read up on this experiment.
As a european citizen I’d vote for all subsidies that go towards intra-European air travel to go towards railway traffic.
The US should so something serious about plane travel as well. At least we have the excuse of completely separate governmental entities that built different railway infrastructure. The US is probably lacking behind China who practically just began connecting their nation through high-speed railways.
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#9Wonder how much contrails are created by rockets? If we'd move the travel above the atmosphere, how much could be saved? An alternative is to move back to slower propeller planes, maybe with electric motors (improving over Tu-95?) but that would increase flight times.
Aren’t those less efficient and less reliable as well? I don't see going back to props. What's the mean time before overhaul on both? Also lower ceiling.
You can each have an ejector seat.
Re: It turns out planes are even worse for the climate than we thought
#10During the 9/11 aircraft grounding, climatologists had a pretty unique chance to measure temperature variance compared to historical data. Just the few days of data showed that days became warmer and nights became cooler. I pretty much had no idea that just trails could impact weather so noticeably until I read up on this experiment. As a european citizen I’d vote for all subsidies that go towards intra-European air…
I think there is probably some low-hanging fruit with airplane design. Techniques to prevent or reduce contrails by modifying the engines or the flight times or flight paths of planes.