HAARP

Aerial view of HAARP in 2005

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Not to be confused with the AARP or Project HARP.

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a scientific research program designed to study the ionosphere of the Earth and its effects on communication.

The HAARP facility is essentially a large radio transmitter and antenna located in Alaska designed to operate in the shortwave band. The project began in 1993 and ran until roughly May 2013. It was initially funded by the Department of Defense in conjunction with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). In 2014, the Air Force expressed plans to dismantle the facility unless it could locate an alternate source of funding.^[1] As of August 2015, UAF has taken over ownership of the facility.^[2]

Some non-scientists have criticized HAARP because it's been used to conduct classified experiments, and they fear a similar device using more energy could be used as a weapon. It has also been criticized as a boondoggle costing many times more than its initial budget. But mostly, HAARP is a popular target for conspiracy theorists who believe that extremely low frequencies (ELFs) can be used for mind control and weather control — it's even been blamed for the 2008 Chinese, 2010 Haitian, and March 2011 Japanese earthquakes and 2014 southeast Europe floods.

When, in December 2012, the famous (and famously wrong) pseudoscientist Richard Hoagland took his Accutron experiment to Chichen Itza, Mexico, he reported that he had detected that HAARP was being used to prevent the planet from tipping over. That was just before he was ejected from the place by site security — an event that was entertainingly captured on video.^[3]

Its attraction to conspiracy theorists, its overextended budget, and its sweeping scope make HAARP crankery similar to that generated — more recently — about the Large Hadron Collider. HAARP is not even unique: there are several other similar radar systems, such as KAIRA in Finland, LOFAR in the Netherlands, the EISCAT network with 4 facilities in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, and the SuperDARN network, which consists of 35 radars all around the world, yet nobody seems to give a fuck about them.

Why HAARP is actually cool[edit]

The HAARP antenna array

Extremely Low Frequencies more easily propagate through water, so they are used for communicating with submarines operating beneath the world's oceans. But the huge (hundreds of miles long) antennas required for ELF communication are costly and impractical. To solve this problem, HAARP created a "virtual" ELF antenna way up in the ionosphere.^[4]

Not having to build a conventional antenna — e.g. 400 miles of utility poles supporting 800 miles of wire — but instead using science to create the equivalent of it in the upper atmosphere is a pretty amazing achievement when you think about it.

But our kickass scientists did this by having HAARP heat a specific spot in the ionosphere with a powerful beam of shortwave radio signals. These signals were cleverly modulated at an ELF frequency, resulting in the natural auroral electrojet current being "modulated", which in turn radiated at an ELF frequency. That ELF radiation could then carry messages to prowling submarines.^[5]

The ELF waves generated by HAARP were still weak enough that submarines would need some sensitive equipment to detect them. So unless a person was actually floating around in the ionosphere at 100 km (more than 62 miles high) — at the specific spot HAARP was heating — they were in no danger.^[6]

Naturally, anything to do with the capabilities of US nuclear submarines (especially the way they receive messages) is classified and the details kept under wraps by the military, so cranks often create needless hysteria around the fact that HAARP has been used in "secret military experiments".

Once you understand this, you'll realize what you should actually be afraid of is the ICBMs carried by nuclear submarines and not their cool-as-all-fuck ELF communications systems.

Conspiracy theories[edit]

In the days before social media and long before Alex Jones was plying his trade, cranky ideas were given birth and nurtured via Art Bell's late night radio program Coast to Coast AM. The opportunistic Bell encouraged his guests to spread nonsense, the crazier the better, for the benefit of conspiracy-hungry audiences who gave the program a ratings kick that did much to line Bell's pockets with profitable ad revenue. One of the crazies was Nick Begich Jr., son of a U.S. Representative, and arguably the first to disseminate nutty conspiracy theories about HAARP. Begich first appeared on Bell's program around 1996 with tales of HAARP's supposed weather-control capabilities.^[7]

Begich went on to build a career out of HAARP fear mongering by authoring his crank manifesto Angels Don't Play This HAARP, which claims, among other things, that HAARP is one of the dastardly tools used by the "elite" to manipulate and disturb human mental processes through pulsed radio-frequency radiation over large geographical areas.^[8]

Begich's narrative was soon picked up by tinfoil hat wearers everywhere, most notably Jesse Ventura, who demanded entry to HAARP facilities in 2009 in order to self-investigate the rumors (sound familiar?) and was predictably turned away.^[9] But the rumors persisted, even without actual evidence to support them. In 2011, a retired Russian general told news media he suspected "powerful American radars" in Alaska caused the failure of Russia's Fobos-Grunt Mars rover space mission.^[10] However, Russian boffins ruled this out.^[11]

Since then, HAARP's appeal to the reality-challenged has only grown. It has appeared in pretty much every conspiracy theory made up in the last two decades, along with a burgeoning collection of imaginative misinformation:

HAARP was secretly patented in 1987[edit]

It's alive!

One of American physicist Bernard J. Eastlund's patents entitled "Method and apparatus for altering a region in the earth's atmosphere, ionosphere, and/or magnetosphere"^[12] is often cited by conspiracy-mongers as ironclad evidence that HAARP's destructive power is a proven fact.^[13] That's because conspiracy theorists like to support their arguments by quoting patents. However a patent doesn't certify an invention has been created, or will even work.

Eastlund's patent described an idea for a gargantuan transmitter hundreds of times more powerful than HAARP whose huge electric power generation requirements were fueled by Alaskan natural gas. And it merely speculated on "possible ramifications and potential future developments" for things like magnetotelluric surveys, local weather modification, military applications, and anti-missile defense. Eastlund's 1987 patent was initially classified (probably due to potential military uses), but it was declassified in 1991 (probably due to obvious impracticalities). Yet this only further convinces the conspiracy crowd that THEY are hiding proof of their evil machinations in plain sight for the awake to find.

In later years, Eastlund claimed that HAARP was built using his ideas, a notion roundly rejected by HAARP management as "crazy".^[14]

HAARP emits Scalar Waves[edit]

Wireless is so scary.

The phrase "scalar waves" sounds mysterious and scary, so cranks have promoted the concept as a form of dangerous mind control. Since it's easy to make people afraid of anything related to modern wireless technology (even if it actually isn't), internet fearmongers happily promote the idea that scalar waves are some kind of mega-evil radio waves rather than what they actually are — a boring mathematical solution to an ordinary Wave equation.^[15]

Some cranks hype up the fear by claiming scalar waves are involved with digital television, and that mind control messages must be embedded "via the flickering of the TV picture". Of course, no bullshit is complete without the claim that scalar waves are somehow supposedly able to produce crop circles, earthquakes, and hurricanes, too.^[16][17][18]

HAARP and 5G[edit]

Now offering Unlimited Talk / Text / HAARP!

With the rollout of 5G, all the old conspiracy bullshit associated with HAARP has gotten a brand new face. According to cranks, 5G is supposedly the latest tool to enslave and manipulate the population via remote mind control (sound familiar?), and the 5G conspiracy cranks recycle a lot of the same bullshit and buzzwords they used for HAARP, like "scalar waves", "frequencies", "geoengineering", etc. and many try to portray 5G as continuing the evil work of HAARP.^[19][20]

Similar to the GWEN towers hysteria, the fear of 5G depends on ignorance and exaggeration. The simple facts are that 5G operates on a higher frequency, has more efficient antenna design, and more reliable cell coverage. It also allows much higher speed data transfer. All of these improve wireless technology for the consumer, and let companies like Verizon and T-Mobile sell and service lots more subscribers. Nations like China and the US are scrambling to cash in on 5G technology, not only because of the vast commercial possibilities, but because 5G can enhance cyberspying capabilities by intelligence services.^[21][22] Naturally, YouTube conspiracy-mongers interpret this to mean 5G is all part of Satan's plot to rule mankind.^[23]

In May 2019, NASA and the NOAA expressed concern that weather satellites operating close to 5G's 24 GHZ frequency could be negatively affected, hindering collection of data used for advance warning of extreme weather events.^[24] HAARP operates on frequencies like 2.7 MHz and 10 MHZ, which is nowhere near the 24 GHZ spectrum.^[25]

Every antenna has something to do with HAARP[edit]

A textbook NWO stooge, definitely relaying HAARP's signal.

Any weird-looking antenna, such as a Radome used at airports to track aircraft, a NEXRAD doppler radar used by meteorologists, and even a Satellite dish used to receive broadcast and satellite communications, is interpreted by cranks as being somehow connected to HAARP and weather control/mind control. These otherwise ordinary antennas have supposedly magical powers: they not only defy the laws of physics and operate on frequencies they weren't designed for, they can inexplicably alter the weather, kill crops, and cause floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes.^[26]

What's the proof? Patents! Cranks scour patent records looking for descriptions of technology that fit the HAARP conspiracy narrative, especially if they have scary-sounding names with the words "defense" or "lasers" in them.^[27] However, a patent doesn't mean the invention has been created or that it will even work, as evidenced by the numerous patents issued for rather odd ideas.^[28]

HAARP works in conjunction with cell phone towers[edit]

There goes the neighborhood!

Mobile wireless towers are ugly. And there are lots of them. More are being installed every day, often visually blighting rural landscapes and suburban neighborhoods. To cranks, this has nothing to do with the fact that an increasing number of mobile users created the need for more and better wireless coverage — hence, more towers needed to service them.

Instead, they claim these towers somehow work in conjunction with a long-ago-deactivated communications system called the Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN), which somehow "relays" HAARP signals. Despite the fact that HAARP, GWEN, and mobile wireless services were designed to work on three different frequencies, cell phone towers (in fact any radio towers) have gotten shoehorned into a colossal unified conspiracy theory, conveniently involving every kind of fringe nonsense you could think of, including chemtrails, vaccines, yogis, alien implants, and Tesla woo.^[29][30][31]

HAARP and Chemtrails[edit]

Nothing to see here, move along.

There are at least two logical fallacies in the above sentences. But that's what you get from someone who delivers pizza and drives a cab when they're not appearing as a "research expert" on Coast to Coast AM.^[33]

According to very imaginative kook speculations, chemtrail planes spray metallic particles of aluminum, barium, and strontium to "enhance the connection between the lower and upper atmosphere" and make it easier for HAARP to "manipulate the ionosphere", which somehow affects the lower areas of the atmosphere and the weather.^[32]

Perhaps the silliest fantasy found among HAARP/Chemtrail conspiracy theorists is that chemtrails containing nano aluminum particles are inhaled by the unsuspecting population and then "activated" by microwaves from HAARP, resulting in total mind control of the victims.^[34] No explanation is given for how people stay alive after breathing aluminized dust long enough to get zapped by superheated microwaves (which HAARP doesn't emit) that somehow employ a Svengali-like hold on their mental process.

HAARP and "Targeted Individuals"[edit]

They Live, 1988 sci-fi classic.

So-called "Targeted Individuals" (or TI's, for short) believe they are being deliberately harassed and having their minds manipulated by everything from microwaves to ELF, and of course HAARP is supposedly coordinating it all. One peculiar claim is that HAARP is used to target individual people by emitting "frequencies" that disrupt the natural resonance of the Sun (which is claimed to occur at precisely 126.22 Hz), resulting in negative health effects.^[35] While it's true that the Sun does give off electromagnetic radiation, it is composed of many different frequencies mixed together.^[36]

TI's claims of being the unwilling victims of evil government mind control were likely influenced by the 1988 John Carpenter sci-fi film They Live. A central plot feature of the film is a powerful mind control transmitter disguised as a cable TV station. The electromagnetic radiation from this TV transmitter enslaves the population and keeps them docile and compliant. But in the exciting finale, the film's "awake" hero (and his buddy) bravely attack the station with AR-15s, shoot up people and equipment, and destroy the huge satellite dish antenna on the rooftop. It's doubtful Carpenter could have known that some people would be unable to tell fantasy from reality.

Somewhat related to TIs are people who claim to have certain medical conditions (which one depends on who you ask) that cause them to "pulsate" from electromagnetic waves, hear loud ringing sounds, etc.

Common symptoms claimed:

• Muscle aches
• Joint aches
• High pitched ringing inside the head
• Clicking in the head
• Vibrations

They are especially vulnerable to conspiracy theories about HAARP, since the nuttier can combine these with chemtrail conspiracy nonsense, and cite YouTube videos purporting to show "microwave imagery" as proof.^[37]

HAARP alters weather, creates earthquakes[edit]

Also being blamed on HAARP.

HAARP conspiracy mongers often cite a quote by Secretary of Defense William Cohen as "evidence" that electromagnetic waves are (somehow) being used to wage "eco terrorism" against individuals and populations. But if you look at the original transcript^[38] you can plainly see that Cohen was talking about the time and resources wasted by false or imaginary terrorist threats. He used the "eco-type of terrorism" quote from Alvin Toffler, a futurist writer, as an example of false and imaginary threats. Cranks simply quote mine Cohen's remarks hoping you'll never look at the original source and see how badly it's being misrepresented.

The answer is: none. Such crankery depends on gross misinterpretations of military research papers, such as a 1996 paper entitled Weather as a Force Multiplier - Owning the Weather in 2025.^[39] Scary title, right? But if you take the time to actually read it, what you'll find is a lot of creative "what if's" and blue-sky (pun intended) thinking, like:

• Speculation that future technologies (none of them HAARP, by the way) that may someday be developed could enable the Air Force to deny an enemy the ability to conduct satellite surveillance by obscuring the target with clouds and haze.

• Multiple disclaimers such as "this report contains fictional representations of future situations/scenarios" and "views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States government".

• The paper even concludes by spelling things out in black and white: "artificial weather technologies do not currently exist".^[40]

According to cranks, every single natural disaster occurred because of HAARP. No exceptions. Citing disasters that happened before HAARP existed usually leads to claims that HAARP has been going much, much longer than the sheeple know. HAARP even gets connected to Biblical prophecy of the End Times, signaled by increasing disasters.

OK, let's review. A 3.6 million watt shortwave radio transmitter may sound impressive, but the ionosphere is vast and unaccommodating. The ELF modulated waves created by HAARP's shortwave transmitter can only be detected using very sensitive instruments. And the constant stream of charged particles from the sun that hit the earth during the day makes detecting them something like trying to see the light from a candle a mile away in bright sunlight. All this is to say, HAARP’s ELF radio waves simply could not create weather changes or earthquakes.

Now let's dissect a specific example...

HAARP created/steered/strengthened "Frankenstorm" Sandy[edit]

Some of Kevin Martin's notable insanity

The primary reason this claim is silly is because HAARP's maximum transmission power of 3.6 megawatts is just too little energy to heat the quantity of ocean water required to generate or manipulate a tropical cyclone. It takes many coinciding factors for a tropical storm to develop, and one of those factors is a seawater temperature in excess of 26.5° C down to a depth of at least 50 meters.^[42] How long would it take HAARP to heat the seawater in the "target area" by just 1° C?

• The tropical depression that would evolve into Sandy developed 7500 km from HAARP.^[43]

• The most powerful instrument at HAARP has a gain of 31 dB.^[44] That antenna gain corresponds to a beam diameter of 6.46°.

• From HAARP to the tropical depression the beam would spread out to a diameter of 845 km.

That is assuming the beam hits perpendicular to the surface. In reality since the signal would have to be refracted by the ionosphere multiple times^[45] to reach this target area the beam would strike the surface at an acute angle and the beam footprint would be an elongated ellipse. But for the purpose of this boondoggle assume it hits perpendicular to the surface.

The chemtrail-equivalent to carpet bombing.

• HAARP's antennae are aimed straight up, but the beams can be offset up to 30° from the vertical axis. The radio waves must rely on ionospheric refraction and ground reflection to reach a target area beyond the horizon. The higher the ionospheric region above the Earth, the fewer the number of refractions and reflections necessary to reach an area. Being extremely generous by assuming the F₂ ionospheric layer is always at its maximum altitude of 800 km, this 30° off-the-vertical transmission angle would give a maximum ionospheric hop distance of 924 km.

It would take nine ionospheric hops, six ground bounces, and two ocean bounces for the signal from HAARP to reach the target area. Typically, each ionospheric hop decreases the signal by 12 dB, each ground bounce decreases the signal by 6 dB, and each ocean bounce decreases the signal by 1 dB. That is a total decrease in signal by 146 dB (which translates to only ¹/_{400,000,000,000,000^th} of the transmitted signal reaching the target area.^[46]

• Seawater has a specific heat capacity of 3.993 J·g^-1·K^-1.^[47]

• A cubic meter of seawater has a mass of 1,025,000 grams.

Multiplying the volume of seawater (845 km diameter × 50 meter depth) by the density of seawater and by the amount of energy required to heat it and dividing by HAARP's transmission power and adjusting for the losses from ionospheric hops and surface bounces means it would take 420 quintillion years (4.2×10²⁰ years) to heat the seawater in the target area by just 1° C. That is 30 billion times the age of the Universe. That is assuming all the water remains in the same area, and doesn't move out of the target area, and doesn't change temperature for other reasons.

The U.S. Air Force admits HAARP can control the weather[edit]

"Make it rain on the New York Times building? Yes Mr. President, right away"

When the military ceased funding HAARP in 2014, Alaska was naturally concerned it would impact jobs and revenue the research facility had generated in the state. The Air Force response to Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (above) was a fairly straightforward statement explaining why the Air Force would no longer be using the HAARP site for research.^[48]

However, the fantasy-prone and conspiracy-minded have interpreted the phrase "to be able to actually control it" as an admission that HAARP has mysterious superpowers that are being used to wreck the planet and victimize humans.^[49]

The Air Force saying HAARP can control the ionosphere is nothing new. The ionosphere is a layer of charged particles 75-1000 km (46-621 miles) above the Earth where the International Space Station and other satellites orbit. HAARP was actually designed to control the ionosphere in a limited way in order to study how it works.

Scientists can literally use HAARP's radio transmitter like a laboratory. For example, they can heat up a small spot in the ionosphere, which lets them see how charged particles behave. Researchers have used HAARP to create an artificial aurora, which allowed them to better understand how natural auroras form. HAARP has also been used to help NASA measure the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth.

And finally, there are reasons to study the ionosphere that even non-scientists can understand. Like satellite TV or GPS. There's simply no way we would have those things without a fundamental knowledge of how the Earth's upper atmosphere works.

HAARP and UFOs[edit]

The Truth is out there

The delightful cranks inhabiting the world of Ufology have also embraced HAARP hysteria, bringing their own inimitable style to the proceedings.

Some claim HAARP can create atmospheric "vortexes" where flying saucers may frolic in the skies above stunned "UFO experts".^[50] We note that the very same cranks also allege that HAARP cleverly projects holographic 3D images of UFOs as part of the grand Project Blue Beam conspiracy to sow confusion and emotional distress among the population.^[51]

Other cranky pundits swear that HAARP is an anti-UFO weapon designed to blast alien ships out of the sky and keep the world safe from extraterrestrial invasion.^[52] Still others imagine that the HAARP site is just a cover for a secret Area 51-type UFO base where the government tests the latest antigravity-powered spacecraft.^[53]

HAARP, God, and the Antichrist[edit]

See you at the HAARPocalypse!

HAARP hysteria has gained a lot of traction among religious zealots, possibly because bullshit about its destructive powers can be shoehorned to fit any number of Bible quotations that make reference to God's wrath and the apocalypse.^[54]

Depending on which zealot you ask, HAARP is a sign of the end times and the "wrath of God" being poured out on God's wicked, rebellious people,^[55] or just part of the continuous onslaught of evil brought on by Lucifer which only the true followers of Christ have the ability to resist.^[56]

Apparently, even Jesus himself is paying attention, warning us that "You have seen the evil HAARP machine being used to cause major disasters to promote their evil plans".^[57]

And let's not leave out Baal. According to religious cranks, he's the Satanic God of Weather. So naturally, HAARP is the NWO's tribute to his evilness in manifesting all sorts of plagues and bad weather upon mankind. And since Lucifer was once an angel, and angels play harps, HAARP has got to be the ultimate weapon of the Antichrist.^[58]

What's the harm (of spreading stupid stuff)?[edit]

Apart from hard-core woo mongers and those committed to the NWO/Illuminati conspiracy narrative, there are a number of otherwise ordinary people who casually pass on bizarre memes about HAARP on the Internet and social media. It's hard to know if they do this to promote an edgy-cool persona, or to attract YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook followers by posting (or reposting) sensational bullshit. There's a good chance a large percentage of this activity may stem from Russian troll farms masquerading as ordinary Americans to sow conspiracy theories on social media.^[59]

Countering the massive amount of sheer stupidity about HAARP that gets spewn on the Web isn't easy. But in August 2016, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks tried. They held an open house, inviting the public to tour the HAARP facility. UAF spokesperson Sue Mitchell said, "We hope that people will be able to see the actual science of it… We hope to show people that it is not capable of mind control and not capable of weather control and all the other things it's been accused of."^[60][61]

But apparently that wasn't enough to overcome decades of fantasy, folklore, and misinformation promoted as "facts". Just three months later in November 2016, two Georgia men, Michael Mancil and James Dryden Jr., armed themselves with AR-15 military-style assault rifles, four Glock hand guns, a rifle, and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition and set out to destroy the HAARP facility.^[62] Luckily, they were apprehended before anyone got hurt. Their reason for planning the attack? The two men were convinced that HAARP "manipulates the weather, controls minds and traps souls."^[62]

In May 2019, an FBI memo from the Phoenix Field Office designated several political conspiracy theories (QAnon, Pizzagate, HAARP, New World Order, Sandy Hook massacre) as domestic threats with the potential to incite violence.^[63][64] As evidence, the FBI cited arrests for criminal activities associated with the conspiracy theories.^[64]

It doesn't take a genius to figure out where they picked up their crazy ideas, and yes, we've seen this before, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss the spreading of HAARP conspiracy theories as harmless kookery.

See also[edit]

• Kevin Martin
• Brainwave woo
• Microwave

Want to read this in another language?[edit]

Si vous voulez cet article en français, il peut être trouvé à High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (français).

External links[edit]

• See the Wikipedia article on High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program.
• Official website (at the University of Alaska)
• HAARP conspiracy homepage
• HAARP Myths, episode #122 of Skeptoid
• HAARP Debunked and Explained Metabunk.org

References[edit]