Articles | Volume 18, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1115-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1115-2025
Research article
 | 
05 Mar 2025
Research article |  | 05 Mar 2025

Factors limiting contrail detection in satellite imagery

Oliver G. A. Driver, Marc E. J. Stettler, and Edward Gryspeerdt

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Cited articles

Agarwal, A., Meijer, V. R., Eastham, S. D., Speth, R. L., and Barrett, S. R. H.: Reanalysis-Driven Simulations May Overestimate Persistent Contrail Formation by 100 %–250 %, Environ. Res. Lett., 17, 014045, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac38d9, 2022. a
Bakan, S., Betancor, M., Gayler, V., and Graßl, H.: Contrail Frequency over Europe from NOAA-satellite Images, Ann. Geophys., 12, 962–968, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-994-0962-y, 1994. a
Bodas-Salcedo, A., Webb, M. J., Bony, S., Chepfer, H., Dufresne, J.-L., Klein, S. A., Zhang, Y., Marchand, R., Haynes, J. M., Pincus, R., and John, V. O.: COSP: Satellite Simulation Software for Model Assessment, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 92, 1023–1043, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011BAMS2856.1, 2011. a
Buras, R., Dowling, T., and Emde, C.: New Secondary-Scattering Correction in DISORT with Increased Efficiency for Forward Scattering, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 112, 2028–2034, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2011.03.019, 2011. a
Chevallier, R., Shapiro, M., Engberg, Z., Soler, M., and Delahaye, D.: Linear Contrails Detection, Tracking and Matching with Aircraft Using Geostationary Satellite and Air Traffic Data, Aerospace, 10, 578, https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10070578, 2023. a, b, c
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Short summary
Contrails (clouds caused by planes) play a large role in the climate warming caused by aviation. Satellites are a good tool to validate modelled impact estimates. Many contrails are either too narrow or too disperse to detect. This work shows that only around half of contrails are observable but that the most climatically important are easier to detect. It supports the use of satellites for contrail observation but highlights the need for observability considerations for specific applications.
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