Electronic Thesis/Dissertation
 

From Webcams to Contrails

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Real-Time Detection and Attribution using In-the-Wild Cameras

Contrails from aircraft can persist for hours and spread into cirrus-like clouds, contributing to global warming which is comparable to aviation CO2 emissions. The ultimate goal is to avoid contrail formation altogether by rerouting flights away from ice-supersaturated regions. Observing contrails from the ground is a first step in a multi-sensor approach to understanding where these regions are. This work highlights initial progress in camera calibration and contrail detection in the wild. Our method detects and attributes contrails to their causative flights, differentiating between short and longer, potentially more climatically impactful contrails. Leveraging computational efficiency, we present a real-time system for contrail detection and attribution using consumer-grade cameras.

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