Contrails over the Mid-Atlantic United States (MODIS)

The skies over the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States were crisscrossed with contrails on November 6, 2023, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. The long, thin lines of cloud left behind by high-flying aircraft (contrails) streak the skies over southern New Jersey, the Delaware Bay, Delaware, the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia, all of which lie below busy aircraft routes. The contrails mix with a band of cloud that overhangs the District of Columbia. Contrails form when aircraft operate in cold temperatures at high altitudes. The water vapor in their exhaust cools and condenses, and when it interacts with either the soot or other particles in the air, it forms ice crystals. Those contrails can linger in the upper atmosphere for hours, producing localized temperature impacts. Over time, contrails can impact climate change. Alternative fuels, including sustainable aviation fuels, can release fewer soot particles than typical jet engine fuel. Research models find that alternative fuels may result in fewer crystals, and the ones that do form will be larger

Date

November 6, 2023

Mapmaker / publisher

MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

map

Original size

1,858 × 1,515 pixels

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