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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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.
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.
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