Contrail cirrus are among the largest non-CO₂ climate impacts of aviation and have become a major focus of research and mitigation efforts. Recent advances in laboratory experiments, flight campaigns, remote sensing techniques, and operational demonstrations have substantially improved our understanding of contrail formation and evolution. At the same time, increasing interest in alternative aviation fuels, new engine technologies, and operational contrail avoidance has highlighted the need for observational evidence to quantify the effectiveness of mitigation strategies, support future implementation and monitoring, and assess their economic costs.
With these developments in mind, this session aims to bring together the growing community working on observations and investigation and evaluation of contrail mitigation strategies. The session complements ongoing efforts in contrail modelling by focusing on experimental and observational studies across a range of spatial scales.
Contributions may include laboratory, ground-based, and in-flight measurements of aerosols, contrails, and atmospheric background conditions. Ground-based cameras, active and passive remote sensing, including ground and airborne lidar, and satellite observations of contrails and cirrus are also of interest. Experimental studies of contrail mitigation using alternative aviation fuels, including SAF, and new engine technologies such as hydrogen combustion are particularly encouraged. Air traffic management, weather and climate model evaluations, and observational validation of operational contrail management and avoidance strategies are also relevant topics. The session also covers research assessing the environmental, economic, and life-cycle implications of contrail mitigation. Contributions combining observations with model evaluation or validation are also welcome.