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Zapping Contrails With Microwave Emitters
An anonymous reader writes "Dissipation of contrails with a powerful microwave beam aligned behind aircraft engines is being touted as a possible solution to help address air transport's effects on the climate. 'The remote heating of condensation nuclei could be achieved by applying electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves,' says Cranfield University's Frank Noppel. 'Depending on assumptions made, calculation shows that the power required for such a device could be as little as 0.1% of the engine power.'"
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060614-contrails.html Aircraft are believed to be responsible for 2 to 3 percent of human CO2 emissions. Like other high, thin clouds, contrails reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet. However, they also trap energy in Earth's atmosphere and boost the warming effect, the study says. (See National Geographic magazine's "Global Warning: Signs From Earth.") Stuber and other scientists believe that the effect of the contrails is significant. "On average the greenhouse warming effect dominates [the effects of contrails]," said Stuber, a meteorologist at England's University of Reading.
The stories and info posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only fools would take it as fact.
No it isn't. Studies have shown that temperatures rose significantly across the US right after 9/11 when all planes where grounded for several days, because of clearer skies.
See here.
From the wiki article it sounds suspiciously like contrails have a warming effect when they're produced either a) at night or b) during the winter. From the percentages listed, it appears that the contrails may well have a cooling effect if they're produced during the day and/or not during the winter. That makes the assertion that the net effect is heating a little easier to swallow.
No, I didn't check out the typically mangled Wikipedia reference. Seriously... citations are great, but you use journal abbreviations and short form references when you're trying to cram them onto one page abstracts, NOT when you're putting them on web pages where space is free.