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Saturday, April 25, 2026

Viral climate post mischaracterizes 'albedo effect' | Fact checking - USA TODAY

The claim: 'Albedo effect' proves synthetic cover over Earth is causing global warming

An April 17 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) shows a video of a plane flying through a cloudy sky and leaving behind condensation trails.

“The shadow of the aerosol trail being dispersed by the Geoengineering SAI aircraft/drone that is seen cast on the artificial synthetic reflective greenhouse above it, is due to the albedo effect,” reads part of the post's caption. "What this means is that, a synthetic cover over a region is created."

The post goes on to claim that this synthetic cover, not human activity, is causing global warming.

The post garnered more than 2,000 likes in one month.

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Our rating: False

Scientists say the post is inaccurate on several levels. The existence of the albedo effect does not prove a "synthetic cover" has been placed around the Earth, according to experts. The post also references solar geoengineering, but researchers say those technologies are still being developed, and no large-scale experiments or operations have been conducted. Scientists have discovered ample evidence that climate change is driven by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

Post mischaracterizes albedo effect

The post refers to the concept of albedo, which is a measure of the amount of light that a surface reflects. The more reflective a surface is, the higher the surface’...



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