From the development of new materials that make airplanes lighter to the exploration of alternative fuels, the aviation industry is making strides toward reducing its carbon footprint. One aspect of ...

For decades, scientists have known that soot particles play a pivotal role in forming contrails. When the atmospheric ...

Some contrails can contribute to global warming. Contrails—pure ice clouds (“cirrus”) that form from aircraft exhaust under specific cold conditions—can trap heat in the atmosphere, sometimes creating ...

Aviation’s climate impact extends beyond carbon dioxide emissions. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Imperial College, UK, reveals that ...

Contrails form when hot exhaust gas from an aircraft’s engine mixes with the cold air at an altitude of about 10 kilometres. In dry air, most contrails dissipate quickly. In cold, humid air, however, ...

Suggested Citation: "1 Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Developing a Research Agenda on Contrails and Their Climate Impacts. Washington, DC: The National ...

How the airline is working to ensure that contrails become a thing of the past, and why this is important.

The Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders — previously known as Annual Tables — reveal the leading institutions and countries/territories in the natural and health sciences, according to their output in ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Contrails — the white line-shaped clouds left behind by planes — pose a particular problem as they are able to trap heat. Julian ...

Clouds come in all types, shapes and sizes. It can be used to determine current and future weather conditions just by looking at the sky. Clouds were studied and named by Englishman Luke Howard in the ...