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Like automobile emissions, aircraft emissions occur when jet fuel combusts inside the plane′s engine, producing heat, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. Like automotive gasoline, jet fuel is a hydrocarbon chain, however, instead of consisting of 8 carbons like gasoline, it consists of 8 to 15 carbons.

Because aircraft emissions occur at high altitudes, their effect on the atmosphere is nearly two times greater than the same quantity of emissions produced by an automobile. One factor contributing to this effect are condensation trails.

At altitudes of 30,000 feet and with temperatures of -35F, condensation trails occur when the cold air that surrounds the aircraft condenses on the hot emissions produced by the aircraft′s engine. This condensation produces clouds that act similarly to cirrus clouds to inhibit solar radiation from leaving the atmosphere and dissipating into space.

In addition to contrails, aircraft emissions also participate in ozone chemistry to alter the quantity of ozone present in the middle regions of the atmosphere. Because ozone inhibits solar radiation from permeating the atmosphere, ozone depletion can increase the amount of solar heat that reaches the earth′s surface.