As airlines test new routes and researchers refine models, contrails are shifting from an afterthought of flight to a potential tool for cutting the carbon footprint of aviation.

An e-mail from Jose asks about the term ``contrail'' and wonders if these have any effect on our weather. The word contrail is really just a contraction for condensation trail, which is that cloud ...

Suggested Citation: "1 Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Developing a Research Agenda on Contrails and Their Climate Impacts. Washington, DC: The National ...

Some contrails can contribute to global warming. Contrails—pure ice clouds (“cirrus”) that form from aircraft exhaust under specific cold conditions—can trap heat in the atmosphere, sometimes creating ...

In the skies over Hampton Roads it is common to see contrails, cloud-like strips of condensed water left behind by aircrafts at high altitude. Some dissipate within minutes, but depending on the ...

The challenge of addressing aviation’s non-carbon dioxide emissions is receiving greater attention, with the climatic impact associated with tell-tale signs in the sky coming under increased study.

Modern aircraft are producing longer-lasting contrails that warm the planet faster than those created by older aircraft, presenting a "double whammy" for the aviation industry's carbon reduction ...

Airbus is calling for more research into the impact of non-CO2 emissions and how to abate them, as preliminary results from a contrail-reduction study have revealed positive results from flight ...