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Atmospheric science

Seeing through contrails

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Contrails formed by aircraft can evolve into cirrus clouds indistinguishable from those formed naturally. These 'spreading contrails' may be causing more climate warming today than all the carbon dioxide emitted by aircraft since the start of aviation.

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Figure 1: Satellite infrared images of contrails spreading into cirrus clouds over the UK.

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Author notes

  1. olivier.boucher@metoffice.gov.uk

  2. olivier.boucher@lmd.jussieu.fr

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Olivier Boucher is at the Met Office Hadley Centre, Fitzroy Road, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK,

    Olivier Boucher

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  1. Olivier Boucher
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Correspondence to Olivier Boucher.

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Boucher, O. Seeing through contrails. Nature Clim Change 1, 24–25 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1078

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