Our expertise

The group studies aircraft and other airport-related emissions and their effects on noise, air quality, and climate. This includes emissions measurement and modelling and mitigation options from technology, operations, sustainable aviation fuels, and market-based measures to address environmental challenges in the aviation sector.

International collaboration

Members of the group are technical experts nominated to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). They also serve on advisory boards for Sustainable Aviation and the Airport Council International’s Airport Carbon Accreditation and contribute to the technical panel of SAE International on Aviation Emissions Modelling.

Funding

To support their activities, the group has participated in numerous projects funded by:

• Governmental agencies, including the Department for Transport.
• National funding bodies, such as UKRI.
• EU programmes, including Horizon Europe.

Our achievements

Their research is underpinned by core modelling capabilities that enhance understanding of the impacts of aircraft emissions on climate. They have developed and maintained the aircraft emissions model FAST, one of only three models approved for ICAO/CAEP analyses, alongside the US Federal Aviation Administration’s AEDT and Eurocontrol’s IMPACT. The database-driven model can be run locally for simple analyses or from a cloud-based SQL server.

Additionally, global 3D models such as the Chemistry Transport Model MOZART-3 from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the UK Met Office’s Radiative Transfer Model, SOCRATES, have been used on specialist High Performance Computing systems to estimate the non-CO₂ effects of aircraft emissions. The new generation of climate modelling systems, specifically WACCM (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model) and CAM-Chem (Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry), is currently being piloted under the Research Cloud Platform. This will enable researchers to further investigate this key area using a highly complex and computationally intensive model.

Emissions caused by aircrafts

The majority of current aircraft operations rely on kerosene, and its combustion releases various pollutants, including carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapor (H₂O), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), sulphur dioxide (SO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and particulate matter (PM). These emissions can affect local air quality (e.g., CO), climate (e.g., CO₂), or both (e.g., NO_x). The most significant impact from the present-day aircraft fleet comes from non-CO₂ emissions, particularly contrail-cirrus. Contrail-cirrus are persistent condensation trails left by aircraft that evolve into cloud-like formations. Despite the importance of non-CO₂ impacts, the scientific understanding of their effects varies from medium to very low, depending on the specific pollutant.

Our projects

Manchester Met’s Sustainable Futures Aviation and Environment group is conducting several research projects to investigate the impacts of non-CO₂ emissions. Two notable projects that will be using the facilities managed by CDDR are MAPLE and CRANE.

MAPLE is a £340K project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Researchers from Manchester Met are collaborating with colleagues from the University of Leeds, the University of Oxford, the University of Reading, and the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) in Norway. The project aims to enhance the understanding of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂-e) metrics by examining uncertainties in the science, future technology, and operational mitigation strategies within the context of policy-related goals.

CRANE is a £315K project, also funded by NERC. Manchester Met researchers are working with the University of Reading and Rolls-Royce to understand the future temperature effects of NO_x emissions from aircraft. The improved understanding will inform policymakers and regulators about mitigation requirements and guide engine manufacturers on long-term strategic investments in combustor design.

Both MAPLE and CRANE are example projects supported by the computational infrastructure provided by CDDR. These projects will use the new generation of climate modelling system, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), to provide data on atmospheric composition due to aircraft NO_x emissions. Researchers from the group have collaborated closely with the Research Cloud Platform (RCP) team on the infrastructure. The RCP team compiled the user requirements, liaised with the cloud provider, migrated existing data, configured storage solutions, installed and tested WACCM, and deployed the model with user documentation. They also provided technical support and advice during the user testing phase and continue to maintain and work alongside researchers.

Without the support of CDDR, the planned work in CRANE and MAPLE, which are critical for improving the understanding of non-CO₂ impacts as outlined in the UK’s Jet Zero Strategy, would not be possible.