Dr Emma Irvine (Researcher Co-I), Dr Fabio Mangini (Postgrad Research Assistant), Professor Keith Shine (PI)
EXTRA is a NERC-funded project, with National Air Traffic Services (NATS) as project partners.
This project analyses the potential impacts of climate change in the upper-troposphere to the aviation industry. The project has two main areas of research: changes to upper level winds which may impact aircraft routing and flight time, with a focus on trans-Atlantic flights, and changes to upper level temperature and humidity which may impact the occurrence of persistent contrails globally. Currently, we are analysing what is the optimal cruise altitude over the north Atlantic in terms of the effect of the wind on flight time and location.