Commercial supersonic aircraft may return in the near future, offering reduced travel time while flying higher in the atmosphere than subsonic aircraft, thus displacing part of the passenger traffic and associated emissions to higher altitudes. For the first time since 2007, we present a comprehensive multi-model assessment of the atmospheric and radiative effect of this displacement. We use four models (EMAC, GEOS-Chem, LMDz–INCA, and MOZART-3) to evaluate three scenarios in which subsonic aviation is partially replaced with supersonic aircraft. Replacing 4 % of subsonic traffic with Mach 2 aircraft that have a NOx emissions index of 13.8 g (NO2) kg−1 leads to ozone column loss of −0.3 % (−0.9 DU; model range from −0.4 % to −0.1 %), and it increases radiative forcing by 19.1 mW m−2 (model range from 16.7 to 28.1). This forcing is driven by water vapor (18.2 mW m−2), ozone (11.4 mW m−2), and aerosol emissions (−10.5 mW m−2). The use of a Mach 2 concept with low-NOx emissions (4.6 g (NO2) kg−1) reduces the effect on forcing and ozone to 13.4 mW m−2 (model range from 2.4 to 23.4) and −0.1 % (−0.3 DU; model range from −0.2 % to +0.0 %), respectively. If a Mach 1.6 aircraft with a lower cruise altitude and NOx emissions of 4.6 g (NO2) kg−1 is used instead, we find a near-net-zero effect on the ozone column and an increase in the radiative forcing of 3.7 mW m−2 (model range from 0.5 to 7.1). The supersonic concepts have up to 185 % greater radiative effect per passenger kilometer from non-CO2 emissions compared to subsonic aviation (excluding contrail impacts).@en

Civil supersonic aviation may return in the near future. Their emissions have been found to lead to changes in the composition of the stratosphere, affecting the ozone layer and climate. To keep up with the rapid developments in supersonic aircraft technology and alternative fuels there is an increasing need for the development of surrogate modeling methods, which requires knowledge of the sensitivities to these emissions. We present a parametric study which evaluates the first- and second-order sensitivities of the ozone column and radiative forcing (RF) to supersonic emissions across two flight corridors and three altitudes. For a given increase in global fuel burn, we find that the increase in emission of (Formula presented.) is the main driver of both the changes in the global ozone column and RF, the latter of which is linked through changes in the ozone distribution. Followed by the increase in the emission of (Formula presented.), which leads to (Formula presented.) loss and has a cooling effect. The ozone column and climate are least sensitive to increases in (Formula presented.) emissions. We also show that interactions between (Formula presented.), (Formula presented.), and (Formula presented.) emissions lead to non-linear behavior in the atmospheric response. The effect of these interactions can lead to (Formula presented.) 5% differences in the ozone column impacts and up to 7.3% increases in RF. Our results demonstrate that the majority of second-order sensitivities may be neglected in surrogate models for small errors, which could greatly simplify their development. Our results also indicate that reductions in flight altitude and fleetwide (Formula presented.) emissions may effectively reduce the environmental footprint of supersonic aviation emissions.

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