Climate impact assessment of varying cruise flight altitudes applying the CATS simulation approach
Year: 2011
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The present paper describes a comprehensive assessment and modelling approach that was developed in the DLR project Climate compatible Air Transport System (CATS) with the goal to analyze different options to reduce the climate impact of aviation. The CATS simulation chain is applied to assess the climate impact reduction potential (via CO2, contrail-cirrus, H2O, NOx, ozone, methane, primary mode ozone) for the world fleet of a representative long-range aircraft operated on a global route network in the year 2006. The average temperature response (ATR) and the direct operating costs (DOC) are calculated for flights with varying cruise flight altitudes and speeds. The obtained results are expressed as relative changes with respect to the minimum DOC trajectory and assessed as cost-benefit ratio (ATR vs. DOC). The results are highlighted for a single route and transferred to the global route network, showing a large potential to reduce the climate impact of aviation for small to moderate increments on costs.
Source: elib (German Aerospace Center)
Authors: Alexander Koch, Benjamin Lührs, Katrin Dahlmann, Florian Linke, Volker Grewe, Markus Litz, Martin Plohr, Björn Nagel, Volker Gollnick, U. Schumann
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2182313012