Rufford, Lancashire, UK. 21. Januar 2017. Kalten & Nebel am frühen Morgen in Rufford Marina am Leeds-Liverpool Kanal, als die aufgehende Sonne beleuchtet Flugzeuge Kondensstreifen zeigen den Weg zum Flughafen Manchester. Bildnachweis: Cernan Elias/Alamy Live-Nachrichten
3600 x 2400 px | 30,5 x 20,3 cm | 12 x 8 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
21. Januar 2017
Ort:
Rufford, Lancashire, UK
Weitere Informationen:
Dieses Bild kann kleinere Mängel aufweisen, da es sich um ein historisches Bild oder ein Reportagebild handel
A contrail will form behind a jet if, as exhaust gases cool and mix with surrounding air, the humidity is high enough and the temperature low enough for liquid water to condense. The air needs to be supersaturated and the temperature generally below -40°F, something that typically occurs only in the upper troposphere, the atmospheric layer several miles up where airliners cruise. Under those conditions, water vapor from the jet's exhaust and secondarily from the atmosphere condenses into water droplets. Within a few tens of feet behind the aircraft, these droplets freeze into the snow-white particles that bring the contrail to life. How long a newly formed condensation trail sticks around depends on the ambient humidity. If humidity is low, contrails will rapidly dissipate, looking like a comet's tail. The ice particles sublimate—meaning go straight from ice to vapor—and you're back to blue sky. If humidity is high, however, contrails can persist—and those are the ones that trouble climatologists. If conditions are right, newly formed contrails will begin feeding off surrounding water vapor. Like vaporous cancers, they start growing and spreading. In time, they can expand horizontally to such an extent that they become indistinguishable from cirrus clouds, those thin, diaphanous sheets often seen way up high. These artificial cirrus clouds can last for many hours, and the amount of sky they end up covering can be astonishing. One study showed that contrails from just six aircraft expanded to shroud some 7, 700 square miles.
