Comments by "MRA" (@yassassin6425) on "Truthstream Media"
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"If they really are caused solely by condensation from the jet engine, wouldn't that air cool back down and the trail dissipate?"
Contrail perseverance is a function of humidity but also low temperature.
"If they really are caused by things as natural as atmospheric temperature and barometric pressure, why do contrails sometimes start and end so suddenly--as if turned on and off with intention?"
Because the atmosphere is not homogeneous. Ask yourself what causes partial cloud cover and the boundaries between a cloud and clear sky which can be immediate. Also remember aircraft are travelling at vey high speed. If they encounter a column of warmer drier air then the contrail will instantly cut off. Conversely, flying into a cooler parcel of high humidity it will suddenly appear. Sometimes they will not occur at all, others they will fade gradually or almost instantly. However if the ambient air is very cold and saturated in respect to ice, then the trail will persist and even spread becoming indistinguishable from regular cirrus. This is because it is unable to sublimate back into its gaseous state which is invisible water vapour.
"Doesn't temperature in the atmosphere change gradually, unless directly ahead or behind a front"
Air can rise, subside and overlap. The atmosphere is constantly in flux and motion. Again think of a clear sky on a summers day. Within minutes scattered clouds can appear.
The atmosphere is not isothermal and air will cool adiabatically with altitude. In ski resorts, you are told to expect the temperature to drop by about 1 degree per 100 meters you go upwards. According to the adiabatic lapse rate the air temperature at the cruising altitude of an aircraft at say 32,000ft should be about -80°C (assuming a sea level temperature of 15°C). In fact, this is somewhat of an underestimate. A more realistic value is about -60°C. The explanation for this discrepancy is the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere. As air rises, expands, and cools, water vapour condenses out releasing latent heat which prevents the temperature from falling as rapidly with height as the adiabatic lapse rate would indicate. In fact, in the Tropics, where the humidity is very high, the lapse rate of the atmosphere (i.e., the rate of decrease of temperature with altitude) is significantly less than the adiabatic value. The adiabatic lapse rate is only observed when the humidity is low. This is the case in deserts, in the Arctic (where water vapour is frozen out of the atmosphere), and, of course, in ski resorts. So an understanding of DALR is important, but it is also crucial to understand the ELR and the SALR. In addition to this, temperature inversions and in particular subsiding inversions.
"I'm no atmospheric scientist but it just doesn't seem right to me that when the sun rises and the air is at its coolest (right?) there are no contrails but by midday they crosshatch the sky."
I often observe contrails driving to work early in the morning - it all depends upon the atmospheric conditions up there. Much depends on three important properties of air. The first important property is that air is transparent to most, but by no means all, of the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, most infrared radiation, which carries heat energy, passes straight through the lower atmosphere and heats the ground. In other words, the lower atmosphere is heated from below, not from above. The second important property of air is that it is constantly in motion. In fact, the lower 20 kilometers of the atmosphere (the so called troposphere) are fairly thoroughly mixed. You might think that this would imply that the atmosphere is isothermal. However, this is not the case because of the final important properly of air: i.e., it is a very poor conductor of heat. Add in high humidity and at the altitudes that aircraft cruise involving very low temperatures, then you will see contrails. It also depends upon where you live. Air traffic is scheduled and by early afternoon the skies can become very busy with intersecting airways, routes and corridors. If the conditions are widely conducive to persistent contrails then these will frequently linger in a grid pattern.
This is a great video produced by NATS which explains the management of the very congested skies over the United Kingdom over a period of a day.
https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/
Hope this helps.
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