Sensitivity of stratospheric ozone to present and possible future aircraft emissions

Conference · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6293567

Wuebbles, D J; Kinnison, D E

The aircraft industry is showing renewed interest in the development of supersonic, high flying aircraft for intercontinental passenger flights. There appears to be confidence that such high-speed civil transports can be designed, and that aircraft will be economically viable as long as they are also environmentally acceptable. As such, it is important to establish the potential for such environmental problems early in the aircraft design. Initial studies with LLNL models of global atmospheric chemical, radiative, and transport processes have indicated that substantial decreases in stratospheric ozone concentrations could result from emissions of NO{sub x} from aircraft flying the stratosphere, depending on the fleet size and magnitude of the engine emissions. The purpose of this study is to build on previous analyses of potential aircraft emission effects on ozone in order to better define the sensitivity of ozone to such emissions. In addition to NO{sub x}, the effects of potential emissions of carbon monoxide and water vapor are also examined. More realistic scenarios for the emissions as a function of altitude, latitude, and season are examined in comparison to prior analyses. These studies indicate that the effects on ozone are sensitive to the altitude and latitude, as well as the magnitude, of the emissions.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: NASA
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6293567
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-104730; CONF-9011178--1; ON: DE91007140
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320201 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Air & Aerospace
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR TRANSPORT
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DATA
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
EMISSION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EXHAUST GASES
FLUIDS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
INFORMATION
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABORATORY
LAYERS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NUMERICAL DATA
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE LAYER
SIMULATION
STRATOSPHERE
SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT
THEORETICAL DATA
TRANSPORT
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VAPORS
WASTES
WATER VAPOR