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.

What’s up with the contrails? Is it just me, or does anyone else notice the streaked cloud patterns over our fair city lately? Mornings typically start out with cobalt-blue skies, only to be ...

A jet leaves contrails in its wake as it flies northward over Santa Cruz. The ice particles in contrails do not reach the Earth’s surface because they fall slowly and conditions in the lower ...

You've definitely seen them in the sky before, but have you ever wondered how plane contrails form? Typically it's a fairly simple process of condensation from jet engines, but sometimes it's just the ...

A mysterious unidentified "burning object" spotted in the skies over central Estonia may simply be aircraft contrails in a ...

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — There have been all kinds of theories about jet contrails over the years. In reality, they have a very simple scientific explanation. You will often see a white streak trailing ...

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 ...

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 ...