Aviation and Atmosphere
Hartmut Grassl
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg,
Germany
Article Outline
Glossary
Definition of the Subject
Introduction
Emissions of Climatically Relevant Substances
by Aviation
Aviation-Induced Cloudiness
Changes of Air Chemistry by Air Traffic
Transport Sector’s Contribution to Future Climate
Change
Why Did International Air Traffic So Far Escape
from an Emission Reduction Policy?
The European Directive to Include Air Traffic into
the Emission Trading Scheme
An Airline Emission Index
Conclusions and Outlook
Bibliography
Glossary
AIC Aviation-induced cloudiness is the sum of
all changes in cloudiness associated with aviation operations hence, it combines contrails
and so-called persistent contrail cover.
Airline emission index A measure to compare
the performance of different airlines with
respect to emissions relative to an ideal one.
Aviation Here: commercial air traffic.
Contrails Jet engine exhaust condensation trails
of airplanes.
Emission trading A market-based approach
used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in
the emissions of pollutants.
GWP The global warming potential is a relative
measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas
traps in the atmosphere. It compares the
amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of
the gas in question to the amount of heat
trapped by the same mass of carbon dioxide.
GTP The GTP is defined as the ratio between the
global mean surface temperature change at a
given future time horizon following an emission (pulse or sustained) of a compound relative to a reference gas.
Radiative forcing When the balance between
the radiative energy received from the sun
and radiative energy leaving the Earthatmosphere system is perturbed, e.g., by a concentration change of an absorbing gas, the
resulting imbalance is termed radiative forcing
that initiates climate change.
Definition of the Subject
Commercial air traffic’s peculiarity, emissions
into the atmosphere mainly at cruising altitude,
leads to changed impacts on global climate in
comparison to other modes of transport. This
entry concentrates on these differences but also
looks onto measures to reduce emissions, e.g., the
emission trading scheme in the European Union,
and presents an airline emission index comparing
commercial airlines.
Introduction
The exhaust of commercial and also military aircraft needs – in comparison to the one from power
plants, cars, trucks, heaters in buildings, railway,
ships, and burners in industry – a special discussion, because of its main injection at cruising
altitudes, i.e., into the upper troposphere or
lower stratosphere from about 9 to 12 km height.
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
M. E. Goodsite et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Sources, Statistics and Health Effects,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0596-7_555
Originally published in
R. A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, © Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_555
327
Hartmut Grassl
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg,
Germany
Article Outline
Glossary
Definition of the Subject
Introduction
Emissions of Climatically Relevant Substances
by Aviation
Aviation-Induced Cloudiness
Changes of Air Chemistry by Air Traffic
Transport Sector’s Contribution to Future Climate
Change
Why Did International Air Traffic So Far Escape
from an Emission Reduction Policy?
The European Directive to Include Air Traffic into
the Emission Trading Scheme
An Airline Emission Index
Conclusions and Outlook
Bibliography
Glossary
AIC Aviation-induced cloudiness is the sum of
all changes in cloudiness associated with aviation operations hence, it combines contrails
and so-called persistent contrail cover.
Airline emission index A measure to compare
the performance of different airlines with
respect to emissions relative to an ideal one.
Aviation Here: commercial air traffic.
Contrails Jet engine exhaust condensation trails
of airplanes.
Emission trading A market-based approach
used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in
the emissions of pollutants.
GWP The global warming potential is a relative
measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas
traps in the atmosphere. It compares the
amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of
the gas in question to the amount of heat
trapped by the same mass of carbon dioxide.
GTP The GTP is defined as the ratio between the
global mean surface temperature change at a
given future time horizon following an emission (pulse or sustained) of a compound relative to a reference gas.
Radiative forcing When the balance between
the radiative energy received from the sun
and radiative energy leaving the Earthatmosphere system is perturbed, e.g., by a concentration change of an absorbing gas, the
resulting imbalance is termed radiative forcing
that initiates climate change.
Definition of the Subject
Commercial air traffic’s peculiarity, emissions
into the atmosphere mainly at cruising altitude,
leads to changed impacts on global climate in
comparison to other modes of transport. This
entry concentrates on these differences but also
looks onto measures to reduce emissions, e.g., the
emission trading scheme in the European Union,
and presents an airline emission index comparing
commercial airlines.
Introduction
The exhaust of commercial and also military aircraft needs – in comparison to the one from power
plants, cars, trucks, heaters in buildings, railway,
ships, and burners in industry – a special discussion, because of its main injection at cruising
altitudes, i.e., into the upper troposphere or
lower stratosphere from about 9 to 12 km height.
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
M. E. Goodsite et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Sources, Statistics and Health Effects,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0596-7_555
Originally published in
R. A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, © Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_555
327