Substantial aircraft contrail formation at low soot emission levels
and narrowing the range of theoretical expectations. Our results indicate that the tested lean-burn engine configurations alone are unlikely to reduce the warming effect of contrails, suggesting that modifications of fuel composition and lubrication oil venting architecture may be required. We show that contrail ice particle numbers in the low-soot regime can be reduced by using low-sulfur fuels and that organic fuel constituents and lubrication oil vapours can increase contrail ice particle numbers. Future research should explore how reductions in volatile particles, apart from soot, affect contrail ice formation.
Authors
- Daniel Sauer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0317-5063)
- Patrick Le Clercq (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6011-5625)
- Andreas Dörnbrack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0936-0216)
- Rebecca Dischl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3519-9905)
- Nicolas Bonne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5149-140X)
- Margaux Vals (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-1987)
- P. Stock
- Charles Renard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1772-0691)
- Christopher Heckl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0573-3663)
- Michael Lichtenstern
- Lisa Eirenschmalz
- Georg Eckel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6922-8279)
- Tina Jurkat-Witschas
- Amandine Roche
- Raphael Märkl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0451-2084)
- Andreas Giez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8595-8343)
- Katharina Seeliger
- Gauthier Le Chenadec
- Emiliano Requena-Esteban
- Fangqun Yu
- Elisabeth Horst
- Gregor Neumann
- Anke Roiger
- Julien Moreau
- Joseph Zelina
- Stefan Kaufmann
- Tiziana Bräuer
- Christiane Voigt
- Andreas Marsing
- Monika Scheibe
Institutions
- Airbus (France) (FR)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales (FR)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- University at Albany, State University of New York (US)
- Safran (France) (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10286-0
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 21.67
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- European Commission
- Science Foundation Ireland
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme