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In flights over the central United States, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean, the NASA team measured emissions of sulfur and soot, with the aim of understanding how these affect high-altitude clouds. The scientists also analyzed the makeup of condensation trails, or contrails, those long, straight clouds often created by jets. NASA, ever eager for a catchy acronym, labeled the mission SUCCESS, for Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study.
Engines can also stimulate cloud growth indirectly, by way of tiny aerosol particles within the exhaust. These aerosols-droplets of sulfuric acid and specks of soot-serve as seeds. They provide surfaces upon which water molecules can condense or freeze to create cloud particles, explains Eric J. Jensen, a participant in SUCCESS and a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.