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.'"

Comments

Re:I'm confused

[Roland Piquepaille]

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.

0.1% is huge!

[camperdave]

calculation shows that the power required for such a device could be as little as 0.1% of the engine power.

A 747 uses four RB211 engines (or the Pratt & Witney equivalent) each of which puts out 30 megawatts of power. So this microwave contrail zapper is going to be using 120 kilowatts of power? That's 60-80 kitchen microwaves running simultaneously. That's more power than many radio stations use to transmit. I can't help thinking this will cause more problems than it solves. How is it going to affect radar, TV, cell phones, etc? How is it going to affect other planes on the same flight path? How is it going to affect the moisture already in the air? What's going to happen when one of these aircraft come in for a landing and forgets to turn off their contrail zapper?

It's probably money a lot better spent trying to build cleaner burning engines in the first place.