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Working Area Emissions Analysis and Modelling

Fig. 1: Soot emissions of March 1992 global air traffic from ground level up to 17km altitude . Fig. 2: NOx emissions of air traffic above Europe on June 21, 1998 between 12:00 und 13:00 UTC

To evaluate the potential effects of aviation emissions on peoples' health and the global climate it is necessary to exactly quantify these emissions. The operating parameters of individual aircraft and engine types are determined by engine and aircraft performance calculation. Based on these data the amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapour, nitrous oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and soot (mass and number of particles) emitted are evaluated, specifically for each type of aircraft or engine as well as dependent on the type of flight mission (flight phase, altitude, range, payload factor).

The tools used for these emission calculations are methods available from literature or developed in-house that correlate the emitted amount of any species to the individual characteristic engine operating parameter(s). As reference data to adjust these correlation methods sea level static measurement data from certification tests published in the ICAO data base for all engine types are used.

These calculations deliver information how much of each species is emitted by individual flights at a certain time and (three-dimensional) location into the atmosphere. Combining and analysing this information with a number of aircraft movements from a traffic data base gives results like the inventory of soot emissions of the global air traffic of March 1992, as shown in figure 1. Inventories like this one are essential input for modelling the influence of human activities on the earth's climate. The latest tools available deliver inventories with much higher spatial and temporal resolution (figure 2).