Claim:
An image shared online authentically shows a tree in Alaska encased in ice.
Rating:
As the cold and snow of winter approached many regions of the United States in November 2025, an image circulated online that purported to show a tree in Alaska encased in ice that formed a peculiar fungi-esque shape.
Users on social media platforms such as Facebook (archived), X (archived) and Instagram (archived) shared the image, with some astounded by its beauty and others suspicious of its authenticity.
One user sharing the image called it “a natural ice sculpture carved solely by the Alaskan winter.”
This surreal frozen formation looks almost otherworldly — yet it’s entirely real. Brooks Range, Northern Alaska 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BpXeA6kpuJ
— Earth_Wanderer (@earth_tracker) November 19, 2025
The image was a fake and was likely created using generative artificial intelligence.
Keen-eyed readers will note the branches around the bottom of the tree blur together in an unnatural way, one of the most obvious signs of AI-generated imagery. There are also tendrils of ice on the tree’s right side that do not appear to be connected to the larger structure.
In addition, the shadows are wildly inconsistent, some not matching the position of the light source and others not matching the shape and depth of the spacing between branches.
Further, snow is highly reflective and would appear to be glistening in such a photo. Finally, it is unlikely the perfect rounded edges of all the surfaces in this image could occur naturally.
(Ethereal Earth Facebook page/Snopes illustration)
A closer look around the edges of the primary tree revealed faded black lines in a grid shape, as though an outline of the tree’s structure was created to generate the image but were not entirely removed.
The image appeared to originate from a Facebook account called Ethereal Earth, whose page displayed a history of sharing a mixture of authentic and AI-generated images.
The page was identified as a “digital creator.” The description in its intro section read, “‘Ethereal Earth’ is all about jaw-dropping views. Some images may be depictions with sole purpose of sparking interest in Earth and especially nature” and included the hashtag “artwork.” Snopes reached out to the page’s manager about the image and will update this article if we receive a response.
A reverse-image Google search revealed no posts of the image earlier than mid-November 2025, and there was no photographer credited in any of them. No credible outlets who cover nature or photography shared the image, and the top search result led back to the Ethereal Earth Facebook page.
The AI-detection platform Hive Moderation determined a 99.5% chance that this photograph was AI-generated. While such platforms are not always 100% accurate, combined with the obvious visual indicators, we’ve rated this image as a fake.
(Hive Moderation)
Before sharing suspicious photographs of nature that purport to be authentic, consult Snopes’ tips for spotting AI-generated images.
For further reading, we’ve also debunked Ai-generated images that purported to show a wolf protecting piglets from a mountain lion and a goose and bald eagle sharing a nest.
