Dispersion of SST trails in the stratosphere.
A simple theory for the dispersion of the exhaust of a supersonic transport cruising in the stratosphere is presented. This model shows that far downstream from the aircraft, buoyancy dominates the growth of the wake. This growth is limited by the stable stratification of the atmosphere. Data on the visible width of the wake from scaled experiments in a towing tank and from studies on the growth of contrails of subsonic aircraft verify the growth of the wake in an unstratified atmosphere is predicted by the model. This growth is faster than would be predicted for the wake of an axisymmetric body with no buoyancy.