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by yaks_hairbrush 2335 days ago
So, 500 million metric tons sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But there's the fact that it's getting dumped into an already big system: the atmosphere at large.

Let's check it out it percentage terms. According to wikipedia, the mean mass of water vapor in the air is 1.27 * 10^16 kg. To get the units correct, that aviation contribution is 5 * 10^11 kg. Dividing the latter by the former, we find that the annual commercial aviation water vapor represents 0.004% of the mean mass of water vapor.

That's rounding error.

1 comments

FL300 is very cold and very dry, and bears almost none of the "atmospheric water". Your estimation of impact is not correct. This is not a linear system.
FL300 (30,000 feet) is usually within the troposphere. And that's highly relevant, because the troposphere is well-mixed. Water vapor emissions at 30,000 feet are going to come back down, for the most part.