Aircraft contrails have been at the center of many discussions for years now. Since the First World War it has been noticed that airplanes, during their flight, occasionally leave contrails, or “thin” white lines in the sky, to mark their passage. Since the second half of the nineties, those same white signs in the sky have ended up in the midst of various conspiracy theories.
What explains the presence of contrails is the fact that planes often find themselves flying in areas with relatively high levels of humidity, and are therefore formed from the water value, as happens with the clouds themselves.
However, there is someone who intends to reduce or better yet eliminate the contrails of airplanes. We are talking about Google, which through Artificial Intelligence should be able to calculate “better” routes, so as to eliminate the trails. Let’s see how and above all why.
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The climate damage of contrails
It has been said that contrails are not the result of geoengineering operations or strange conspiracies. Nonetheless, these long white lines in the sky could still have negative consequences for the Earth. These steam lines account for about 35% of aviation’s impact on global warming, according to the 2022 IPCC report.
Therefore, we are talking about long and thin “clouds” caused by the passage of planes which, if on the one hand they reflect some of the sun’s rays, on the other hand they act as a “hood” for the heat below. In short, we could talk – really simplifying it to the max – of many long, subtle and temporary “greenhouse effects”.
Hence, the idea that it is possible to reduce global warming at least a little, or at least reduce the environmental impact of flights, by canceling or cutting the contrails of airplanes. The basic idea would therefore be to study from time to time, based on the meteorological and atmospheric conditions, optimal routes to avoid the areas with higher humidity.
Obviously all this should be done without excessively lengthening the routes, which, by increasing fuel consumption, would completely nullify the very existence of the project. And this is precisely where Artificial Intelligence comes into play.
Read also: A closer look at sustainable aviation fuel (SAF): state of the art and challenges
Google and AI working to reduce airplane contrails
The project in question to reduce contrails is the result of Google’s collaboration with American Airlines. It should be added that Breakthrough Energy, an association founded by Bill Gates, who everyone knows as the founder of Microsoft, is also collaborating on the project. The aim of this association is to raise funds to combat climate change.
In concrete terms, by collecting satellite images, meteorological data, flight paths, weather forecasts and so on, AI should be able to develop contrail prediction maps to significantly reduce them.
In recent months the tests have already begun, with American Airlines carrying out 70 flights following the “advice” of the AI. The pilots who followed these maps reduced the contrails produced by their planes by 54%.
Read also: NASA presented a “silent” supersonic plane: will it pave the way to the aviation of the future?
