Most of us first spot them as children—the white lines in the blue sky that are the telltale sign of a flight overhead. Contrails are an instant visual reminder of air travel, and a source of much ...

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 ...

Those white vapor trails crisscrossing the sky carry a hidden climate price tag comparable to the damage from jet fuel itself. Research from Chalmers University of Technology reveals that aviation ...

The challenge of addressing aviation’s non-carbon dioxide emissions is receiving greater attention, with the climatic impact associated with tell-tale signs in the sky coming under increased study.

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 ...

Contrails conjure a sense of something overwhelming and ineffable, as terrifying as it is beautiful. By Kate Folk I spend most days working from home, in my apartment in San Francisco’s Richmond ...

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 ...

Aviation's climate impact is partly due to contrails—condensation that a plane streaks across the sky when it flies through icy and humid layers of the atmosphere. Contrails trap heat that radiates ...

A sharp chill settled over Metro Detroit Tuesday as high temperatures struggled to reach 39 degrees at Detroit Metro Airport, well below early April averages of the mid-50s, but a steady warming trend ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. FILE - An airplane lifts off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as the sun rises Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP ...