Small- and medium-scale effects of high-flying aircraft exhausts on the atmospheric composition
Following numerous model studies of the global impacts of sub- and supersonic aircraft on the atmosphere, this paper assesses the separate aircraft engine exhaust effects of the 45°N cruise flight and at the 10- and 18-km levels of the July atmosphere. A box diffusion photochemical model in the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
1994-08-01
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| Series: | Annales Geophysicae |
| Online Access: | https://www.ann-geophys.net/12/979/1994/angeo-12-979-1994.pdf |
| Summary: | Following numerous model studies of the
global impacts of sub- and supersonic aircraft on the atmosphere, this paper
assesses the separate aircraft engine exhaust effects of the 45°N cruise flight
and at the 10- and 18-km levels of the July atmosphere. A box diffusion
photochemical model in the cross-section plane of the flight trajectory is used
to compute the effects of gas-phase and heterogeneous reactions on the
condensation trail particles in the troposphere, and on the sulphate aerosols in
the stratosphere. The enhanced horizontal dispersion of the exhaust plume is
considered in the model. A significant but short term depletion of ozone is
predicted, which is 99% restored in about 1 h in the wide plume with enhanced
horizontal dispersion, but requires more than 24 h in the narrow plume without
it. The oxidation rate of NO and NO<sub>2</sub> into the HNO<sub>3</sub> depends
on the OH content in the exhausts and varies in all the cases. The heterogeneous
photochemistry has only a small influence on the initial evolution of N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>
and HO<sub>2</sub> in the plume. |
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| ISSN: | 0992-7689 1432-0576 |