Contrails Cast Shadows Across Azure Skies

Contrails cast shadows across azure skies,

As jet exhausts do freeze in cold, moist air.

But we have just begun to realise

The great effects of what happens up there.

By studying two sites that were the same,

Apart from the presence of those white streaks,

Research has shown the shadows are to blame

For less range in diurnal troughs and peaks.

They found the temperature of land below

Had decreased max and elevated min;

A six-degree reduction they did show,

With Fahrenheit the unit they worked in.

Next time you see the sky criss-crossed in white,

Think what this means for those beneath the flight.

This is a Shakespearian Sonnet, written about new research that has been investigating the effect that jet contrails have on land temperature.