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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Aviation Contrail Cirrus and Radiative Forcing Over Europe During 6 Months of COVID‐19
Christiane VoigtChristiane VoigtRobert BaumannUlrich SchumannLuca BugliaroAndreas Dörnbracksubject
Atmospheric Science010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciencesPollution: Urban Regional and GlobalcirrusForcing (mathematics)Atmospheric Composition and Structure010502 geochemistry & geophysicsAtmospheric sciencesBiogeosciences01 natural sciencesOceanography: Biological and ChemicalCloud/Radiation InteractionRadiative transferWolkenphysikInstitut für Physik der AtmosphäreMarine PollutioncontrailOceanography: GeneralGeophysicsPollution: Urban and RegionalAtmospheric ProcessesCirrusClouds and AerosolssatelliteMegacities and Urban Environmentcontrail aircraft climate observation model traffic Meteosat CoCiPRadiation: Transmission and ScatteringAtmospherePaleoceanographyEvolution of the EarthCOVID‐19Research LetterGlobal ChangeBiosphere/Atmosphere InteractionsUrban Systems0105 earth and related environmental sciencesEvolution of the AtmosphereAerosolsradiative forcingVerkehrsmeteorologieAtmosphereLongwaveAtmosphärische SpurenstoffeRadiative forcingAerosols and ParticlesNumerical weather predictionTectonophysicsaviationGeneral Earth and Planetary SciencesEnvironmental scienceShortwaveNatural Hazardsdescription
Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a 72% reduction of air traffic over Europe in March–August 2020 compared to 2019. Modeled contrail cover declined similarly, and computed mean instantaneous radiative contrail forcing dropped regionally by up to 0.7 W m−2. Here, model predictions of cirrus optical thickness and the top‐of‐atmosphere outgoing longwave and reflected shortwave irradiances are tested by comparison to Meteosat‐SEVIRI‐derived data. The agreement between observations and modeled data is slightly better when modeled contrail cirrus contributions are included. The spatial distributions and diurnal cycles of the differences in these data between 2019 and 2020 are partially caused by differences in atmospheric and surface conditions, particularly for solar radiation in the spring of 2020. Aviation signals become discernible in the observed differences of these data between 2019 and 2020 when subtracting numerical weather prediction model results that approximate the atmosphere and surface conditions without contrails.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-28 | Geophysical Research Letters |