Aerosol-Cloud Interactions From Aviation Soot Emissions

Alyssa N. Alsante, Meng Dawn Cheng

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Current models estimate global aviation contributes approximately 5% to the total anthropogenic climate forcing, with aerosol-cloud interactions having the greatest effect. However, radiative forcing estimates from aviation aerosol-cloud interactions remain undetermined. There is an expected significant increase in aircraft emissions with aviation demand expected to rise by over 4% per year. Soot may play an important role in the ice nucleation of aircraft-induced cirrus formation due to a high emission rate, but the ice nucleating properties are poorly constrained. Understanding the microphysical processes leading to atmospheric ice crystal formation is crucial for the reliable parameterization of aerosol-cloud interactions in climate models due to their impact on precipitation and cloud radiative properties. Ice nucleation of aircraft-emitted soot is potentially affected by particle morphology with condensation of supercooled water occurring in pores followed by ice nucleation. However, soot has heterogeneous properties and undergoes atmospheric aging and oxidation that could change surface properties and contribute to complex ice nucleation processes. This review synthesizes current knowledge of ice nucleation catalyzed by aviation in the cirrus regime and its effects on global radiative forcing. Further research is required to determine the ice nucleation and microphysical processes of cirrus cloud formation from aviation emissions in both controlled laboratory and field investigations to inform models for more accurate climate predictions and to provide efficient mitigation strategies.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2023JD040277
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Volume129
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 28 2024

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy (DOE) (Grant 11680 to Alyssa N. Alsante and Meng-Dawn Cheng). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. The US Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (https://www.energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan). This research was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT\u2010Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy (DOE) (Grant 11680 to Alyssa N. Alsante and Meng\u2010Dawn Cheng). This manuscript has been authored by UT\u2010Battelle, LLC, under contract DE\u2010AC05\u201000OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid\u2010up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. The US Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe\u2010public\u2010access\u2010plan ).

Keywords

  • aerosol
  • aviation
  • climate
  • contrails
  • ice nucleation
  • soot

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