Why global warming? Can you imagine environmental factors, not in the news? From a climate scientist: There are nearly 10,000 jet airplanes in the air, over the planet, on any given moment, most with four engines. According to him, each engine discharging nearly 1,700 degrees for commercial craft and 2,732 degrees for military (unclassified). Rockets are many times those figures.
It has been that way for many decades (do some math). According to him, this accounts for a huge unreported factor in global warming. Proof, I asked? He said, after 9/11 we grounded the planes and the global temperatures started to drop. He said details about this are rare because air transportation is critically important to the economies of every country on the globe.
Articles on CO2 and contrail environmental impact are easy to find. Cumulative heat, not so much. Enterprising physics or engineering students might explore the contribution of aircraft heat discharge to global warming. What to do about it? A very big, complex question.
THOM BLOOMQUIST
Concord