Contrails (//; short for "condensation trails") or vapor trails are long, thin artificial clouds that sometimes

form behind aircraft. Their formation is most often triggered by the water vapor in the exhaust of
aircraft engines, but can also be triggered by changes in air pressure in wingtip vortices or in the air
over the entire wing surface.1 Contrails are made of water in the form of a suspension of billions of
liquid droplets or ice crystals.
Depending on the temperature and humidity at the altitude the contrails form, they may be visible for
only a few seconds or minutes, or may persist for hours and spread to be several miles wide. The
resulting cloud forms may resemble cirrus, cirrocumulus, or cirrostratus, and are sometimes called
cirrus aviaticus. Persistent spreading contrails are thought by some, without overwhelming scientific
proof, to have a significant effect on global climate.
Condensation from engine exhaust
The main products of hydrocarbon fuel combustion are carbon dioxide and water vapor. At high
altitudes this water vapor emerges into a cold environment, and the local increase in water vapor can
raise the relative humidity of the air past saturation point. The vapor then condenses into tiny water
droplets which freeze if the temperature is low enough. These millions of tiny water droplets and/or ice
crystals form the contrails. The time taken for the vapor to cool enough to condense accounts for the
contrail forming some way behind the aircraft's engines. At high altitudes, supercooled water vapor
requires a trigger to encourage deposition or condensation. The exhaust particles in the aircraft's
exhaust act as this trigger, causing the trapped vapor to condense rapidly. Exhaust contrails usually
form at high altitudes; usually above 8,000 m (26,000 ft), where the air temperature is below 36.5 C
(34 F). They can also form closer to the ground when the air is very cold and has enough moisture.4
Moreover, scientists say that clouds are formed due to pollution particles, e.g soot from engine exhaust,
which serve as condensation nuclei. These particles condensate the separate water molecules into
clouds every time the conditions are right and, thus, pollute the sky much more seriously than pure
water and CO2 would do alone.[citation needed]
Condensation from decreases in pressure
As a wing generates lift, it causes a vortex to form at each wingtip, and sometimes also at the tip of
each wing flap. These wingtip vortices persist in the atmosphere long after the aircraft has passed. The
reduction in pressure and temperature across each vortex can cause water to condense and make the
cores of the wingtip vortices visible. This effect is more common on humid days. Wingtip vortices can
sometimes be seen behind the wing flaps of airliners during takeoff and landing, and during landing of
the Space shuttle.
The visible cores of wingtip vortices contrast with the other major type of contrails which are caused by
the combustion of fuel. Contrails produced from jet engine exhaust are seen at high altitude, directly
behind each engine. By contrast, the visible cores of wingtip vortices are usually seen only at low
altitude where the aircraft is travelling slowly after takeoff or before landing, and where the ambient
humidity is higher. They trail behind the wingtips and wing flaps rather than behind the engines.
During high-thrust settings the fan blades at the intake of a turbofan engine reach transonic speeds,
causing a sudden drop in air pressure. This creates the condensation fog (inside the intake) which is
often observed by air travelers during takeoff. For more information see the Prandtl-Glauert singularity
effect.
The tips of rotating surfaces (such as propellers and rotors) sometimes produce visible contrails.5
Contrails and climate
Contrails, by affecting the Earth's radiation balance, act as a radiative forcing. Studies have found that
contrails trap outgoing longwave radiation emitted by the Earth and atmosphere (positive radiative
forcing) at a greater rate than they reflect incoming solar radiation (negative radiative forcing). NASA
conducted a great deal of detailed research on atmospheric and climatological effects of contrails,
including effects on ozone, ice crystal formation, and particle composition, during the Atmospheric
Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP).6 Global radiative forcing has been calculated from the reanalysis
data, climatological models and radiative transfer codes. It is estimated to amount to 0.012 W/m2
(watts per square meter) for 2005, with an uncertainty range of 0.005 to 0.026 W/m2, and with a low
level of scientific understanding.7 Therefore, the overall net effect of contrails is positive, i.e. a warming
effect.8 However, the effect varies daily and annually, and overall the magnitude of the forcing is not
well known: globally (for 1992 air traffic conditions), values range from 3.5 mW/m2 to 17 mW/m2. Other

studies have determined that night flights are mostly responsible for the warming effect: while
accounting for only 25% of daily air traffic, they contribute 60 to 80% of contrail radiative forcing.
Similarly, winter flights account for only 22% of annual air traffic, but contribute half of the annual
mean radiative forcing.
A 2015 study found that artificial cloudiness caused by contrail "outbreaks" reduce the difference
between daytime and nighttime temperatures. The former are decreased and the latter are increased,
in comparison to temperatures the day before and the day after such outbreaks.10 On days with
outbreaks the day/night temperature difference was diminished by about 6F in the U.S. South and 5F
in the Midwest.
Distrails
Where an aircraft passes through a cloud, it can clear a path through it; this is known as a distrail (short
for "dissipation trail"). The plane's warm engine exhaust causes existing water droplets to evaporate,
leaving a clear wake through an otherwise cloudy sky.
Clouds form when invisible water vapor (H2O in gas phase) condenses into microscopic water droplets
(H2O in liquid phase) or into microscopic ice crystals (H2O in solid phase). This may happen when air
with a high proportion of gaseous water cools. A distrail forms when the heat of engine exhaust
evaporates the liquid water droplets in a cloud, turning them back into invisible, gaseous water vapor.

contrail

[ 1]

8000 26000 -40C-40F[5]

[6]
1992 3.5
mW/m 17 mW/m
25% 60% 80%
22%[7]


26,000
.[13]