Carnegie Institution for Science
Well-understood physical and chemical processes can easily
explain the alleged evidence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying
program, commonly referred to as "chemtrails" or "covert geoengineering,"
concludes a new study from Carnegie Science, University of California Irvine,
and the nonprofit organization Near Zero.
Some
groups and individuals erroneously believe that the long-lasting condensation
trails, or contrails, left behind aircraft are evidence of a secret large-scale
spraying program. They call these imagined features "chemtrails."
Adherents of this conspiracy theory sometimes attribute this alleged spraying
to the government and sometimes to industry.
The
authors of this study, including Carnegie's Ken Caldeira, conducted a survey of
the world's leading atmospheric scientists, who categorically rejected the
existence of a secret spraying program.
The team's findings, published byEnvironmental Research Letters, are based on a survey of two groups of experts: atmospheric chemists who specialize in condensation trails and geochemists working on atmospheric deposition of dust and pollution.
The
survey results show that 76 of the 77 participating scientists said they had
not encountered evidence of a secret spraying program, and agree that the
alleged evidence cited by the individuals who believe that atmospheric spraying
is occurring could be explained through other factors, such as typical airplane
contrail formation and poor data sampling.
The
research team undertook their study in response to the large number of people
who claim to believe in a secret spraying program. In a 2011 international
survey, nearly 17 percent of respondents said they believed the existence of a
secret large-scale atmospheric spraying program to be true or partly true.
And
in recent years a number of websites have arisen claiming to show evidence of
widespread secret chemical spraying, which they say is linked to negative
impacts on human health and the environment.
"We
wanted to establish a scientific record on the topic of secret atmospheric
spraying programs for the benefit of those in the public who haven't made up
their minds," said Steven Davis of UC Irvine. "The experts we
surveyed resoundingly rejected contrail photographs and test results as
evidence of a large-scale atmospheric conspiracy."
The
research team says they do not hope to sway those already convinced that there
is a secret spraying program -- as these individuals usually only reject
counter-evidence as further proof of their theories -- but rather to establish
a source of objective science that can inform public discourse.
"Despite
the persistence of erroneous theories about atmospheric chemical spraying
programs, until now there were no peer-reviewed academic studies showing that
what some people think are 'chemtrails' are just ordinary contrails, which are
becoming more abundant as air travel expands. Also, it is possible that climate
change is causing contrails to persist for longer periods than they used
to." Caldeira said.
"I felt it was important to definitively show
what real experts in contrails and aerosols think. We might not convince
die-hard believers that their beloved secret spraying program is just a
paranoid fantasy, but hopefully their friends will accept the facts."