Denmark, Contrails - MERIS - 1 June 2003

This MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) shows much of northeastern Europe, including areas of Germany, Sweden, Poland and Denmark.

The interesting features on this image are the elongate clouds around and to the east of Denmark, particularly visible over the sea. These are in fact condensation trails formed by water vapour from aeroplanes. This part of the world being very busy for air travel as can be seen by the number of contrails, it is thought that these contrails can form into high altitude cirrus clouds, which could contribute towards global warming.

Work within ESA's Data User Element (DUE) is currently looking into condensation trails and any effects they could be having on climate change.

Technical Information:
Instrument: MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)
Dates of Acquisition: 1 st June 2003
Orbit number: 06546
Instrument features: Reduced Resolution image (1200 - metre resolution)
Coordinates:
NE Lat/Long: N 57.72 / 29.25 E
NW Lat/Long: N 61.09 / 9.74 E
SW Lat/Long: N 49.71 / 6.27 E
SE Lat/Long: N 46.92 / 21.44 E