3.5 % of global warming is attributable only to air transport

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El 3,5 % del calentamiento global es atribuible solamente al transporte aéreo

As revealed the most complete research submitted to the IPCC metrics (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), global air transport represents 3.5 % of anthropogenic climate warming.

These are the findings of a large international study led by Manchester Metropolitan University and involving the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Contrails

Researchers have analyzed all the factors in which the air transport industry has contributed to climate change since its inception: in total, has emitted 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide throughout the entire history of the industry, considered between 1940 and 2018.

Schematic Overview Of Processes Influence The Climate System

According to the study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment on September 3, 2020, are contrails and resulting cirrus clouds (clouds of ice crystals produced by aircraft engines at high altitudes under certain weather conditions) the most important factor of this effect, not carbon dioxide emissions from air travel, which account for only a third of the climate impact.

Contrails reflect solar radiation back into space, which has a cooling effect. However, they also reduce the Earth's own heat radiation, which warms the climate.

The study also includes other climate-relevant emissions, such as water vapor, soot, aerosols, and sulfate aerosol particles found in the exhaust plumes of aircraft engines. Carbon dioxide emissions are the second largest contribution to the climate impact of air transport. About half of the total cumulative carbon dioxide emissions were generated in the last 20 years alone.


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3.5 % of global warming is attributable only to air transport

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Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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