"I'm actually more worried about contrails at this point than I am about CO2 emissions because it is an impact that has not been internalized by the industry in any shape or form," said Jayant Mukhopadhaya, a lead aviation researcher for the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a US environment think tank.
A 2021 study suggests contrails and other non-CO2 emissions could account for up to two-thirds of aviation's total climate impact. Contrails could represent 57% of that impact roughly the same as CO2 emissions from burning fuel.
"But if you start taking into account these other pollutants that aviation is responsible for, the aviation sector is actually accounting for a far higher amount of warming than we usually ascribe to it," said Mukhopadhaya, adding that it could be three times greater than previously assumed.
"Some of them persist for only a few seconds or minutes, others for hours or even days, depending on the amount of moisture and the temperature," said Patrick Minnis, a senior researcher, describing the variables affecting contrail duration.
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