Users of social networking sites are circulating a video whose publishers claim that an aircraft recently released a poisonous gas to cause temperatures to rise in the Mediterranean basin. However, the video was published in 2017, and in fact it shows fumes that are normally emitted from all planes, but they appear in the form of lines at certain altitudes and under a certain humidity, experts confirmed to AFP.
In the video, a passenger plane appears to be approaching and what looks like smoke coming out of it. The accompanying comment stated, “Chemetryl gas is dense in the southwest of the Mediterranean. I think the goal is to attract the depression to northwest Africa and the Mediterranean basin, which will lead to a record high temperature, which may exceed 45 degrees.”
The publications added that the goal of “broadcasting” these gases is to cause climate change and natural disasters in the North African region.
After cutting the video into static scenes, the research indicated that it was published in news and aviation sites in 2017, meaning that it is not recent, as the publications claimed.
The accompanying comments stated that a pilot named “Le Boer” took the video of a Boeing 787. Boyer posted the clip on his YouTube account, where he posts similar scenes.
What is the nature of smoke?
These publications, similar to similar publications in several languages that include pictures or other videos, claim that what appears behind the plane are toxic gases that promoters of conspiracy theorists call “chemtrell”, which are deliberately released into the air to spread toxins, according to their claim.
However, these allegations are unfounded, and what appears behind the planes is just fumes, experts confirmed to AFP.
And the observer at the University of Clermont Physical Observatory, Nathalie Ory, reported that the white smoke emitted from the planes is condensed droplets of water vapor.
Ori added to AFP in 2021 that levels of humidity and atmospheric pressure vary with altitude, and at certain levels, these vapors condense and appear similar to white smoke.
According to the Directorate of Civil Aviation in France, these lines are formed “at an altitude between 7000 and 8000 meters, with a humidity of regarding 70% and temperatures below 35 degrees Celsius.”
“The natural result of these physical factors is the formation of condensed steam that appears in the form of white streaks,” the directorate told AFP.
For his part, the deputy director of the SAFIRE unit for atmospheric research in France, Jean-Christophe Canonisi, told AFP in 2021 that the fumes resulting from the combustion of aircraft fuel create a layer of hot air on top of a cooler layer, suspending water droplets and expanding horizontally, forming white lines.