Contrail Cirrus Coverage and Radiative Forcing derived from Satellite Data

Abstract

Air-traffic has an impact on cirrus cloud cover and consequently the radiation budget of the earth-atmosphere system. This work examines the impact of air-traffic on cirrus coverage as well as the first time direct on outgoing flux density on top of the atmosphere (TOA) using simultaneous observations from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) SEVIRI instrument and high spatial and temporal resolution air-traffic data from EUROCONTROL (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation). The study shows significant correlations between air-traffic density on the one side and cirrus coverage, outgoing long and short wave radiant flux densities on the other side. The relation between air traffic and radiant fluxes depends strongly on daytime and season