Night flights also cause the most warming, because the clouds are just trapping heat. Daytime flights create less damaging contrails because they reflect some sunlight to offset the heat they’re ...

Contrails that form at night or last into nighttime are the main contributors to atmospheric warming, per the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Earth undergoes radiative cooling at night — heat ...

The situation looks worse at night. When the Sun is not shining, contrails hinder the emission of heat from the Earth's surface, contributing to global warming. The study also noted that 62 ...

Time of day also influences the climate effects of contrails. Those formed by evening and night flights have the largest warming contribution. Seasonality is also important – the most warming ...

These persistent contrails, as they are known, help to reflect solar radiation back to space, which has a cooling effect. But they also block heat from escaping from… Receive a weekly dose of ...

Contrails that stay in the sky for a few minutes are not very worrisome, he says. "But if they form at night, they'll maybe last a little longer, and at night they can cause a warming effect," he adds ...