Could global warming be due to airplane exhaust & space shuttles, if it's been getting worse the past 50 yrs?

Answer 1

Yes, airplanes do emit huge amounts of exhaust and Al Gore flys his jet all over telling people to use low energy light bulbs. Is that hypocritical or what? Now for some interesting facts. Actually the temperature of the earth has increased less than 7/10 of 1 degree (C) from 1880 to 2005. That is an increase of about 1 degree (F) in 125 years. You may choose to believe that is global warming or you may not. Source: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/2005cal_fig1.gif There are numerous charts all over the internet showing the same. Some say that 1 degree is enough to impact the global climate, others say it's not. Most proponents of global warming think the earth's temperature has risen much more than that and don't even know that it has only risen by 1 degree. But the charts do not lie as do the proponents on both sides of this issue. The average temperature in the Antarctica is 109 degrees below zero. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica#Climate It seems to me 108 below (one degree warmer) is still pretty cold and not enough to melt anything. But there are those that say it will.

Back in the '70s all the hype was about global COOLING and another ice age was coming. I remember that they blamed pollution for that too. They said that all the pollution was darkening the skies and not as much sun was coming through so the earth was cooling off. It took many years to discover that they were mistaken and it was all just hype. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling So when someone says, "the sky is falling" don't believe everything you hear on either side of the issue. There are Spin Doctors galore out there.

Most of the time people will form an opinion and not really be informed about the subject with which they become so opinionated about. So it's best that you not form your opinions from other's opinions, (as in this forum) but on the facts presented. (Many do not provide any proof or links to prove their point, just their opinion.) With that said we do have a responsibility to do our part by doing whatever is within your power to keep our planet alive and well.

I hope that helps...

Answer 2

Airplanes may be a factor. They are estimated to contribute approximatly 3% of the CO2 emissions produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.

The space shuttle burns hydrogen so it emits water. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas, but it is believed that water vapor equilibrium is not affected by combustion emissions. Incidently, most fossil fuels also produce water vapor.

The statement about temperatures being cooler while planes were grounded over the U.S. may be true, but it has no relevence to this discussion because:

1) Planes were not grounded everywhere, only over the U.S.
2) Short term effects on temperature are a function of weather, not climate
3) Even if all airplanes in the world were grounded, for a few days, you would not see a significant change in atomospheric CO2 levels.
4) Remember, its only 3% so even if planes were grounded for a long time, the effect would be minimal or maybe even negative. People will still need to get around, and if they all drive cars instead, the CO2 released would probably be higher.

Answer 3

Shuttles do not fly often enough to make any important contribution. Plus, the shuttle main engines burn hydrogen, which does not produce carbon dioxide in the exhaust.

But airplanes are definitely a major contributor. However, they also leave contrails in the sky, which are basically artificial clouds. These clouds shade the ground and are believed to REDUCE global warming. Many environmentalists are saying that the true magnitude of the warming is being masked by the shading effect of these contrails, and by other "cloudy" pollution.

Answer 4

Climate scientists are smart guys. They look at everything. What they say is that airplanes are a part of the problem, but a small one. The big ones are transportation and making electricity.

Rockets are too few to be a significant thing.

EDIT

To the guy below. CO2 doesn't sink, thermal motion keeps it suspended. You may not be able to measure it, but scientists can. Check out the 3rd graph, 1957-2000. Many scientists have measured CO2 all around the world, they get the same result almost exactly.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/warming/etc/graphs.html

The little peaks are the summer growing season, the little dips are winter. They show what plants are doing, and it's swamped out by what man does.

Answer 5

there is not any one reason for worldwide warming, something that burns gasoline is contributing. Airplanes may be able to have one greater effect on the grounds that they deposit their combustion products extreme interior the ambience. After 9/11 while all air site visitors replaced into grounded interior the US there have been some exciting observations made. it style of feels that the water vapor that varieties contrails can exchange the climate, in fact seeding cloud formation. although, there are a number of greater automobiles and vans and properties and each little thing else utilising gasoline on the floor which interior the long term are including lots of the carbon dioxide.

Answer 6

I see where you are going with this since these vehicles are up there in the atmosphere. But global warming is bigger than that. There are some 6 billion vehicles in the world, who knows how many coal burning powerplants, trains and farm equipment, chemical plants. All of these things contribute to global warming. And if we could magicly stop producing green house gases today, the after effects would still continue for 100 years.

Answer 7

CO2 is a very heavy gas . It falls to the ground pretty quick. When I try to measure it I can not find it . I think the plants have taken care of some of the CO2 with a process of photosynthesis. If the CO2 is not there neither is global warming.

Answer 8

It is possible. After 9/11 when they banned airplanes, the temperature was a couple degrees cooler.

With all those planes in the air they are heating up the stratosphere or ionsphere which can casue problems.

Answer 9

Sure, airplane exhaust has to contribute, but there are a lot more automobiles.