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TIL. Thnx for sharing. Does that make h20 worse or better than co2 as an aviation byproduct in respect to global warming.
by bushbaba 5y ago
TIL. Thnx for sharing.
Does that make h20 worse or better than co2 as an aviation byproduct in respect to global warming.
- bacheaul 5y agoLong term, CO2's worse, but that's probably not the best way to look at it. Excess H2O (water vapor) falls out of the sky as rain, so it's fairly constant (ie. "maxed out"), and its long term concentration levels are a function of CO2 equivalent gases in the atmosphere. So if you increase CO2 levels, H20 levels will naturally increase as well, and vice versa.
- labster 5y agoWater gives slightly more radiative forcing than CO2 from airplanes, and the effects of NOx are negligible. But of course the water disappears from that altitude in hours, while CO2 has a long atmospheric residence time. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04068-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04068-0
- dr_dshiv 5y agoThe article implies that the radiative forcing is from the contrail clouds, not from the water per se. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a fuel additive that minimizes the formation of cirrus clouds, if the clouds are the source of so much of the climate impact.