Contrails in the blue sky remind us of daily air traffic—and its impact on the climate. However, the effect of contrails on the climate is still only partially understood. It is assumed that they have ...

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 ...

Modern aircraft are producing longer-lasting contrails that warm the planet faster than those created by older aircraft, presenting a "double whammy" for the aviation industry's carbon reduction ...

Contrails – short for condensation trails – are linear clouds made up of ice crystals that form behind jet aircraft at high altitudes. These artificial cirrus clouds are formed when hot and moist ...

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

Modern commercial aircraft flying at high altitudes create longer-lived planet-warming contrails than older aircraft, a new study has found. The result means that although modern planes emit less ...

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 ...

A new study allays fears that rerouting flights to avoid forming climate-warming contrails could result in inadvertently making climate warming worse. A new study allays fears that rerouting flights ...

If you've ever stared up at the sky and wondered about the long, white streaks emerging behind airplanes, you're definitely not alone. These ghostly lines are called contrails, short for condensation ...

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

Reducing aircraft soot emissions may not reduce contrail clouds, according to in-flight observations of emissions from a ...

"Ever wonder about those white lines in the sky?" That's the question Airbus posed this week on social media. Before anyone gets concerned, the aerospace giant hasn't gone down the 'chem trails' ...