Fact check: Geoengineering technology not yet in use, despite posts to the contrary
The claim: Video shows geoengineering operation blocking the sun
An April 16 Instagram video (direct link, archived link) shows different cloud formations and airplane condensation trails.
“Geoengineering,” reads text in the video. “Watch the blue sky and ‘sun’ become fully blocked FAST with super heavy spraying.”
The post garnered more than 800 likes in three days. Other versions of the post are circulating on TikTok and YouTube.
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Our rating: False
Climate scientists say geoengineering technology is not yet in use and is still being researched. The posts appear to equate this developing technology with "chemtrails," a conspiracy theory repeatedly debunked by scientists and fact-checkers.
Geoengineering technology still being researched and developed, experts say
The white streaks in the sky at the beginning of the video are airplane condensation trails, Alan Robock, a climate science professor at Rutgers University, told USA TODAY. The water vapor from aircraft engine exhaust freezes at high altitudes, leaving a trail of ice crystals in the plane’s wake.
But the posts inaccurately claim the trails are evidence of ongoing geoengineering, referring to a number of emerging climate intervention technologies that could manipulate the atmosphere to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Solar geoengineering, one of the two broad categories of climate intervention technology being researched, aims to modify the amount of solar radiation absorbed and released by the Earth’s atmosphere.
"The idea is that dispersing aerosols – tiny particles – at high altitude would reflect a small fraction of incoming sunlight back to space and cool the planet, offsetting some global warming," Joshua Horton, a geoengineering research director at Harvard University, previously told USA TODAY.
Fact check: False claim geoengineering is behind climate change
Robock and Horton previously told USA TODAY the technology is still being developed and studied, explaining that much of the technology necessary to make it work does not yet exist. Neither was aware of any significant experiments or operations using geoengineering technology.
Furthermore, Robock said solar engineering would most likely result in vibrant red and yellow sunrises and sunsets, not white trails in the sky.
“It would not look like contrails,” he said in an email.
The posts also appear to conflate geoengineering technology with the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which baselessly claims governments and other nefarious actors are secretly adding toxic chemicals to the atmosphere via airplane condensation trails.
USA TODAY and other outlets have repeatedly debunked claims purporting to prove chemtrails exist.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the post for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
USA TODAY, Feb. 28, Fact check: False claim geoengineering is behind climate change
USA TODAY, April 14, Fact check: No, airplane contrails are not being used to combat climate change
USA TODAY, Jan. 25, Fact check: False claim ‘chemtrails’ and HAARP are used to manipulate the weather
USA TODAY, Dec. 14, 2022, Fact check: False claim that barrels pictured on planes contain ‘chemtrails’
Alan Robock, April 19, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Joshua Horton, Feb. 20, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, June 2019, Technology Factsheet: Solar Geoengineering
Environmental Protection Agency, September 2000, Aircraft Contrails Factsheet
Harvard University, accessed Feb. 20, Geoengineering
Harvard University, accessed Jan. 19, Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim video shows ongoing geoengineering
