Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Contrail |
ContrailNoun1. An artificial cloud created by an aircraft; caused either by condensation due to the reduction in air pressure above the wing surface or by water vapor in the engine exhaust. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | = condensation trail. (references) |
Geography | Cloud which forms in the wake of an aircraft when the atmosphere at flying level is sufficiently cold and humid. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Contrails are condensation trails: artificial clouds made by the exhaust of jet aircraft or wingtip vortices which precipitate a stream of tiny ice crystals in moist, frigid upper air.
In 1998, NASA scientists found that by circling a jet off the Pacific coast of the United States they were able to create contrails that eventually coalesced into a cirrus cloud covering 1,400 square miles. Satellite photographs have confirmed that on one occasion jet contrails produced by commercial aircraft over New Mexico formed a cloud covering 13,000 square miles.
It had been hypothesized that in regions such as the United States with heavy air traffic, contrails affected the weather, reducing solar heating during the day and radiation of heat during the night. The suspension of air travel for 3 days in the United States after September 11, 2001 provided an opportuntity to test this hypothesis. Measurements did in fact show that without contrails daily temperatures were about 1 degree Centigrade higher during the day and 1 degree lower at night.
A conspiracy theory postulates that "mysterious white tanker planes, a counterpart to the black helicopters of paranoid legend, crisscrossing the country spraying "chemtrails" that make people sick. Often the chemtrails form an X, which is "read by satellites to track dispersal patterns," we learn. In many cases the contrails are accompanied by a cobweblike cloud of "angel hair" filaments descending from the sky. Other times clear or brown Jell-O-like goop spatters the landscape. Some think the goop and the filaments result from improperly adjusted spray nozzles on the mysterious aircraft." [1]
External links
- Abstract of article in Nature announcing research results of contrail temperature change study
- Vapour trails' effects confirmed, Nature August 8, 2002
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Contrail."
Synonym: ContrailSynonym: condensation trail (n). (additional references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Oak Tree, silhouetted against the evening sky (with contrail) in Modoc Park in Medford. Credit: Terry Tuttle. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
contrail | 7 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "contrail"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Danish | kondensationsstribe (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Dutch | condensatiestreep (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail), condensatiespoor (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Finnish | tiivistymisvana (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail), tiivistymisjuova (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
French | traînée de condensation (condensation trail). (various references) | |
German | Kondensstreifen (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Greek | ουρά συμπύκνωσης (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Hungarian | kondenzcsík (condensation trail, contrails, exhaust trail, jet stream, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Italian | scia di condensazione (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ontrailcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | rasto de inversão do avião, rasto de condensação (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Russian | след инверсии самолета. (various references) | |
Spanish | estela de condensación (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail), estela (backwash, seaway, stele, track, trail, wake). (various references) | |
Swedish | kondensationsstrimma (condensation trail, vapor trail, vapour trail). (various references) | |
Turkish | jet duman izi. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | інверсійний слід. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "contrail": contrails. (additional references) | |
| |
"Contrail" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cantrail, centrail, chondral, chondria, conrail, contail, contrain, contraly, contrario, controul, cuntrair. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: cilantro. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-i-l-n-o-r-t" | |
-1 letter: carotin, clarion. | |
-2 letters: action, alnico, aortic, aroint, atonic, cantor, carlin, caroli, carton, cation, catlin, citola, citral, citron, coital, contra, cortin, craton, latino, lictor, lorica, oilcan, ration, ratlin, rialto, rictal, tailor, talion, tincal, trinal. | |
-3 letters: acorn, actin, actor, aloin, antic, cairn, canto, carol, claro, coati, colin, coral, coria, cotan, intro, linac, lirot, loran, lotic. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-i-l-n-o-r-t" | |
+1 letter: cantorial, cilantros, contrails, doctrinal, prolactin. | |
+2 letters: chlorinate, citronella, coloration, contrarily, corelating, fractional, frictional, iconolatry, inculcator, inoculator, interlocal, laceration, lectionary, microtonal, pratincole, prolactins, relocating, relocation, tinctorial, tractional, trinocular, ulceration, ultrasonic. | |
+3 letters: altercation, anthropical, calibration, calumniator, cartoonlike, celebration, chlorinated, chlorinates, chlorinator, circulation, citronellal, citronellas, clairvoyant, colinearity, colorations, conciliator, contractile, coplanarity, correlating, correlation, countervail, crenelation, crenulation, declaration, directional, doctrinally, granolithic, inculcators, inculpatory, inoculators, intercostal, intolerance, intraocular, involucrate, lacerations, lacrimation, lubrication, lucubration, multicarbon, narcoleptic, neocortical, noncritical, nonmetrical, nontropical, outcrawling, pantropical, percolating, percolation, postcranial, pratincoles, radiolucent, reclamation, redactional, reductional, reinoculate, relocations, reluctation, replication, thrasonical, trichomonal, ulcerations, ultrasonics. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Images: Slideshow 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Translations: Modern 7. Derivations 8. Anagrams | 9. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
