Impact of Aviation on Climate: Research Priorities

Abstract

Though presently small in magnitude, aviation?s future impact on climate will likely increase with the absence of effective mitigation measures. With the exception of CO2 emissions, climate impacts of aviation emissions are quite uncertain, and there are scientific gaps that need to be addressed to guide decision making. An objective of the Next Generation Air Transportation System is to limit or reduce aviation?s impact on climate. Therefore, the Federal Aviation Administration has developed the Aviation Climate Change Research Initiative (AC-CRI) to address key scientific gaps and reduce uncertainties while providing timely scientific input to advance and implement mitigation measures. This paper provides a brief overview of the priority-driven research areas that ACCRI has identified and that need to be pursued to better characterize aviation?s impact on climate change.