The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) has generated quite a bit of controversy over its alleged weather control capabilities. Conspiracy theorists have speculated that facilities like HAARP are to blame for a number of weather related disasters. In this post I wish to investigate whether facilities like HAARP have the ability to manipulate the weather in order to ascertain whether there is any credibility to these claims.

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Wikipedia states that;

“The purpose of HAARP is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance and the research that is done at the HAARP facility allows the US military to perfect communications with its fleet of submarines by sending radio signals over long distances.”

The HAARP program operates at a major sub-arctic facility, named the HAARP Research Station, on an Air Force–owned site near Gakona, Alaska. The most prominent instrument at the HAARP Station is the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), a high-power radio frequency transmitter facility operating in the high frequency (HF) band. The IRI is used to temporarily excite a limited area of the Ionosphere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program

The HAARP project directs a 3.6 MW signal, in the 2.8–10 MHz region of the HF (high-frequency) band, into the ionosphere. The signal may have been pulsed or continuous.

The acronym HAARP is very popular amongst conspiracy theorists and as a result a large number of people tend to believe that HAARP is the only facility of its kind. The HAARP facility however is not the only facility of its kind. There are quite a number of other ionospheric research facilities around the world. For example;

Mu Radar – is a 1 megawatt facility in Japan (34°51’14.80″N 136° 6’19.45″E).

http://www.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/English/MU/

Arecibo Observatory – is a 2 megawatt facility in Puerto Rico (18°20’38.97″N 66°45’9.77″W).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory

HIPAS – is a 70 megawatt facility in Fairbanks, Alaska (64°52’21.18″N 146°50’18.78″W).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAS_Observatory

Sura – is a 190 megawatt facility in central Russia (56° 7’10.32″N 46° 2’4.41″E).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sura_Ionospheric_Heating_Facility

EISCAT – is a 1 gigawatt facility in Tromso, North Norway (69°35’1.06″N 19°12’57.11″E).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EISCAT

As stated, a large number of people tend to believe that HAARP is the only facility of its kind. As a result, many people jump to the conclusion that the United States is to blame when an incident arises that could possibly be caused by facilities like HAARP. A large number of countries are involved in ionospheric research. By comparison, HAARP is claimed to be a mere 3.6 megawatt facility and that’s after it was upgraded in 2006. It has 278 times less maximum power than the ionospheric heater in Norway.

Source – http://montalk.net/conspiracy/142/haarp-earthquakes-and-hurricanes

Dr. Bernard Eastlund is the scientist whose name is most associated with the creation and development of the HAARP project. HAARP is based on physicist Bernard J. Eastlund’s U.S. Patent from 1987 titled “Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth’s Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and/or Magnetosphere”.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4686605.PN.&OS=PN/4686605&RS=PN/4686605

Eastlund explained in his patent application that by influencing the ionosphere, methods of weather modification are possible.

“Weather modification is possible by, for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns or altering solar absorption patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric particles which will act as a lens or focusing device.”

Eastlund had been working with the Atlantic Richfield Company, holders of a massive reserve of natural gas under Alaska’s North Slope. ARCO bought Eastlund’s first two patents with the understanding that this new technology would make it possible for their natural gas reserves, too expensive to be piped from Alaska, to be converted to electrical energy on the north slope, and then bounced off the heated ionosphere to customers in remote locations around the globe.

Because Eastlund’s “heaters” could elevate the Earth’s ionosphere, his discovery provided the ability to control weather by altering upper atmosphere wind patterns. This is done by focusing high frequency radio transmissions on the ionosphere, lifting and heating it in localized areas which then alters wind patterns and ultimately weather conditions.

Source – http://uforeview.tripod.com/haarp.html

The ionosphere is an active electrical shield protecting the planet from the constant bombardment of high-energy particles from space. This conducting plasma, along with Earth’s magnetic field, traps the electrical plasma of space and holds it back from going directly to the earth’s surface. Charles Yost of Dynamic Systems, Leicester, North Carolina states that:

“If the ionosphere is greatly disturbed, the atmospheric conditions below are subsequently disturbed.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/haarp-the-military-s-pandora-s-box

The apparatus for HAARP is a reversal of a radio telescope; an antenna which sends out signals instead of receiving. These powerful radio waves lift areas of the ionosphere by focusing a beam and heating those areas. Electromagnetic waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything, living and dead. Due to the fact that disruptions in the ionosphere have the ability to alter atmospheric conditions, many researchers who study the science behind HAARP have come forward with concerns that the ionospheric related disruptions have had a role to play in weather related disasters. As a result, some consider HAARP to be a new breed of weapon with the capability to alter jet stream routes along with weather patterns.



In April 1997, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen stated in a United States Department of Defense news briefing that: (Source: Department of Defense News Briefing: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen)

“Others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.”

Was the Secretary of Defense referring to the manipulation of the ionosphere by facilities like HAARP when he made this statement?

The following statements were made in a documentary titled Weather Warfare which was put together by the History Channel.

“Directed energy is such a powerful technology it could be used to heat the ionosphere and turn weather into a weapon of war.”