Google and the UK government are collaborating on a project to test whether airplanes can avoid creating contrails. The project, called Operation Blue Skies, will conduct the trial over Shanwick airspace, which sits above the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Contrails are the long white streaks in the sky left by jet engines. Most often created in cold, humid air, they form when water vapor condenses and freezes around aircraft exhaust. Researchers estimate that they contribute to about one-third of aviation's total climate impact.

AI to help planes avoid climate-warming'sky graffiti' We've all looked up and seen the white lines trailing behind aircraft in the sky. Known as contrails, these icy clouds contribute to climate change, and scientists have been trying to work out how to stop them. Now, a £5m UK trial will test whether AI can help, by predicting where warming contrails are likely to form and getting planes to avoid those areas. The 30-month Operation Blue Skies project brings together Google, the UK government, the Met Office, air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and academic researchers. It will focus on the Shanwick Oceanic airspace in the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor which accounts for approximately 5% of global contrail warming.