Claim: An image posted to Facebook in July 2024 authentically depicted an atmospheric phenomenon known as a fire rainbow or circumhorizontal arc that had formed over Alaska. Ratings: [].
Facebook was abuzz in July 2024 after posting a photograph purporting to depicting Alaska as illuminated by an “exploding rainbow”, garnering over 42,000 responses by time of this writing.
Picture was also shared across other platforms such as X, Instagram, Threads and Reddit. Multiple artificial intelligence image detection tools concluded the photo had likely been generated using AI or photo editing software.
Together, IsItAI?, AI Image Detector, AI Content Detection and Hive Moderation have determined there was between 69%-81% probability that any particular picture had been produced using artificial intelligence or deepfake software.
Clockwise from top left: AI Content Detect, Hive Moderation, IsItAI? and AI Image Detector).
However, this alone did not prove that the image had been digitally created.
Our first instance of “fire rainbow” images digitally produced came on July 19, 2024 on Facebook by an account called The Space Academy that self-identifies as an independent digital creator with this disclaimer:
At one point in The Space Academy’s Intro, users were directed to TheSpaceAcademy.org; unfortunately, as of this writing it does not permit access to its “About” page.
Snopes reached out to The Space Academy to determine whether this image is real or just part of its depictions, and will update this article should we receive any response; until that happens we have classified this claim as research in progress.
According to the Department of Geography at University of California Santa Barbara, what has come to be known as a fire rainbow phenomenon is actually an atmospheric event known as circumhorizontal arc, not related in any way with fire.
Below are three circumhorizontal arcs collected by the Department in northern Idaho (left), Portugal (middle), and Michigan (right).
(Snopes compilation/UCSB Geography)
According to the World Meteorological Organization, circumhorizontal arcs extend parallel to the horizon when light sources reach an elevation higher than 58 degrees; otherwise they cannot be observed due to lack of sun at an appropriate angle.
Latitude measures the horizontal coordinates around the globe. For instance, the 58th parallel north is defined as an imaginary circle located 58 degrees north from Earth’s equatorial plane.
Hayley Drennon, a senior research assistant from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, reported that only a portion of Alaska lies below 58 degrees latitude north, as indicated by red line in image below.
(Drennon) Given Alaska does lie below the red line above, there remains the chance that some or all of The Space Academy’s post was taken within this U.S. state – we could therefore not determine an accurate rating without confirmation from their Facebook page.
According to Snopes in 2006, circumhorizontal arcs occur when sunlight “passes through diaphanous, high-altitude cirrus clouds composed of hexagonal plate crystals.” That article noted:
Light entering crystals’ vertical side faces and leaving through their bottom faces is refracted, like light passing through a prism, into an array of visible colors that reflect back out through their bottom faces and reflect back towards our planet. When aligned optimally (i.e. with their faces parallel to ground level), plate crystals in cirrus clouds create an unforgettable display that looks almost exactly like an enormous rainbow!
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