diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0411c2d7f11de49c5c885d3e7188da46a71c1565..b1c62f1f3055ae11dfcc3a2b16f0cce45d95dede 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Note that since we don't clearly distinguish between a public and private interf
 ## [Unreleased]
 
 - Optimize inter unit bond compute
+- Improve SSAO for thin geometry (e.g. lines)
 
 ## [v3.35.0] - 2023-05-14
 
diff --git a/src/mol-gl/shader/ssao.frag.ts b/src/mol-gl/shader/ssao.frag.ts
index ac851e47fa8bf28a56dc78e379c5559c90c07dcb..cdc86f31437bbb0925083e55e441e473034955fc 100644
--- a/src/mol-gl/shader/ssao.frag.ts
+++ b/src/mol-gl/shader/ssao.frag.ts
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ void main(void) {
     vec2 selfPackedDepth = packUnitIntervalToRG(selfDepth);
 
     if (isBackground(selfDepth)) {
-        gl_FragColor = vec4(packUnitIntervalToRG(0.0), selfPackedDepth);
+        gl_FragColor = vec4(packUnitIntervalToRG(1.0), selfPackedDepth);
         return;
     }