The future of flight: Can AI make flying sustainable? | Google AI

Satellite images at 1:33 courtesy of Landsat/Copernicus.
Satellite images from 2:46-4:01 and 5:08-5:12 courtesy of Landsat.
Satellite images from 4:01-4:17 courtesy of GOES-16/NOAA.

Research papers:
Sridhar, Banavar & Ng, Hok & Chen, Neil. (2011). Aircraft Trajectory Optimization and Contrails Avoidance in the Presence of Winds. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. 34. 10.2514/1.53378.

Meijer, Vincent R, Kulik, Luke, Eastham, Sebastian D, Allroggen, Florian, Speth,
Raymond L et al. 2022. "Contrail coverage over the United States before and during the
COVID-19 pandemic." Environmental Research Letters, 17 (3).

Meerkötter, R. & Schumann, Ulrich & Dölling, D.R. & Minnis, Patrick & Nakajima, Takakau & Tsushima, Y.. (1999). Radiative Forcing by Contrails. Annales Geophysicae. 17. 1080-1094. 10.1007/s00585-999-1080-7.

Research papers licensed under CC BY 4.0.

[fecorekasi]

Yes, contrails, which are condensation trails formed by the water vapor emitted from aircraft engines, can indeed trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere. They are essentially human-made clouds that form when the hot water vapor from jet engines cools and condenses in the cold upper atmosphere¹.

Contrails can contribute to both atmospheric warming and cooling. However, the warming effect is particularly notable for contrails that form at night or persist into the night. This is because the Earth undergoes radiative cooling at night, where heat radiates from the surface into space. Contrails can act like a thermal blanket, trapping this heat and thus contributing to warming².

The overall warming effect of contrails is still considered small, but it is a subject of ongoing research and environmental concern, especially as air traffic continues to increase⁴.

Source: Conversation with Copilot

[tmccle]

This is what I love about google. It’s way more then a search engine or mapping software.

[newsverse-irrc]

Hok K. Ng has been with NASA for years, and he's worked on all kinds of excellent aerospace projects.

[georgererat]

Interesting concept. Generally planes, choose to fly at a higher altitude for multiple reasons, including better fuel economy, less weather and faster speeds. Any model to try to determine would need to balance the fuel economy and increase speed if it was suggesting going to a lower altitude as you would offset or perhaps lose all gains.

[Mike-zrwq]

Very interesting, but can't we fit a humidity scanner in the cone of the plane so we have real-time data? This would make a huge impact. But congratulations to you guys for wanting to make a change

[MarigoldHoney-lyvg]

This was so inspiring and elating! I'm so happy to see some improvements being made with the aviation industry regarding it's environmental impacts! 🎉

[RobinBriones]

Amazing ! That's how technology and AI should work together from now on...

[joancarlesfortea]

That's so inspiring and we would like to help with the new Meteosat satellite and the Copernicus satellite constellation, mainly in the nigh contrail detection. Let's go

[akashsonar]

I respect and 👏appreciate how Google contributes in every aspects.❤

[Stoner]

Dr. Eric Berg's informative health videos used to be a staple in my YouTube Premium experience. However, recent changes in YouTube's search algorithms have left me frustrated. It seems YouTube now prioritizes profit-driven sources like Mayo Clinic and big pharma, sidelining valuable content on natural health. It's disheartening to see my subscription money supporting such decisions.

[BMRFORYOU]

Can we not put HD cameras at the back of the aircraft and keep a check if the aircraft is creating a contrail and change the altitude accordingly?. I am not an expert but just a thought I couldn't resist.

[jorgemadrazo]

I guess they are just scratching the surface to look at it in a simple way, but what about all the metal particles and poisonous chemicals that are sprayed too? those are not a matter of humidity.

[Flyer]

So interesting and educating — and that, two decades after retirement from a career in aviation. 😊

[chakibvlog]

❤❤❤تحياتي الي فريق جوجل
شكيب فلوك من المغرب

[billyshearin]

Always wondered! Explained perfectly for myself to understand

[samuelsofa]

Chemtrail whoops I meant contrails seem a bit SUS

[kristoferkrus]

Incredible! This sounds like such an obvious thing to do, considering that such a great climate impact is caused by such a small amount of planes. As a research scientist using machine learning to do climate research myself, I applaud you for realizing that this can be done, and then actually doing something about it.

On another note, is it just me, or do the voices sound a bit robot like at times? It sounds like Autotune has been used to make their pitch jump in really weird ways. What's going on? For example at 3:28 and 4:12. Maybe really aggressive noise reduction because of wind?

[itsMohak]

It's actually very interesting research. I never knew that contrails can be this problematic. It's great to see you do in-depth work towards that perspective. Well done Google. Proud of you

[shortyd]

I have always wondered what those white trails were seemingly coming out the back of the plane. So I was once told it was the government making rain clouds 😭😔🐻‍❄️🤍🔙🔂☔🌧️😞😦😨😮

[kwhite]

It's condensation like what occurs when a car is running