THE WEATHER CHANNEL

[mick]

great reading here;
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/haarpFactSheet.html

What Is HAARP?
The High frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a program focused on the study of upper atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics and Radio Science. The HAARP program operates a major Arctic ionosphere research facility on an Air Force owned site near Gakona, Alaska. Principal instruments installed at the HAARP Research Station include a high power, high-frequency (HF) phased array radio transmitter (known as the Ionosphere Research Instrument (IRI), used to stimulate small, well-defined volumes of ionosphere, and a large and diversified suite of modern geophysical research instruments including an HF ionosonde, ELF and VLF receivers, magnetometers, riometers, a UHF diagnostic radar and optical and infrared spectrometers and cameras which are used to observe the complex natural variations of Alaska's ionosphere as well as to detect artificial effects produced by the IRI. Future plans include completion of the UHF radar to allow measurement of electron densities, electron and ion temperatures, and Doppler velocities in the stimulated region and in the natural ionosphere using incoherent scatter techniques.
Is HAARP Unique?
Ionosphere research facilities have been in continuous use since the 1950s to investigate fundamental physical principles which govern the earth's ionosphere, so that present and future transmission technologies may take into account the complexities of this highly variable medium. In addition to HAARP, the United States has operated two other ionosphere research sites in recent years, one in Puerto Rico, near the Arecibo Observatory, and the other (known as HIPAS) in Alaska near Fairbanks. Both of these facilities were built with both active and passive radio instrumentation similar to those at the HAARP facility. Interest in the ionosphere is not limited to the US: a five-country consortium operates the European Incoherent Scatter Radar site (EISCAT), a premier ionosphere research facility located in northern Norway near Tromso. Facilities also are located at Jicamarca, Peru; near Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod ("SURA") and Apatity, Russia; near Kharkov, Ukraine and in Dushanbe, Tadzhikistan. All of these installations have as their primary purpose the study of the ionosphere, and most employ the capability of stimulating to a varying degree small, localized regions of the ionosphere in order to study methodically, and in a detailed manner what nature produces randomly and regularly on a much larger scale. HAARP is unique to most existing facilities due to the combination of a research tool which provides electronic beam steering, wide frequency coverage and high effective radiated power collocated with a diverse suite of scientific observational instruments.
Who is Building HAARP?
Technical expertise and procurement services as required for the management, administration and evaluation of the program are being provided cooperatively by the Air Force (Air Force Research Laboratory), the Navy (Office of Naval Research and Naval Research Laboratory), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Since the HAARP facility consists of many individual items of scientific equipment, both large and small, there is a considerable list of commercial, academic and government organizations which are contributing to the building of the facility by developing scientific diagnostic instrumentation and by providing guidance in the specification, design and development of the IRI. BAE Advanced Technologies (BAEAT) is the prime contractor for the design and construction of the IRI. Other organizations which have contributed to the program include the University of Alaska, Stanford University, Cornell University, University of Massachusetts, UCLA, MIT, Dartmouth University, Clemson University, Penn State University, University of Tulsa, University of Maryland, SRI International, Northwest Research Associates, Inc., and Geospace, Inc.
What is the Value of Ionosphere Research?
The ionosphere begins approximately 35 miles above the earth's surface and extends out beyond 500 miles. In contrast to the dense atmosphere close to the earth, which is composed almost entirely, of neutral gas, the thin ionosphere contains both neutral gas and a small number of charged particles known as ions and electrons. This ionized medium can distort, reflect and absorb radio signals, and thus can affect numerous civilian and military communications, navigation, surveillance and remote sensing systems in many varied ways. For example, the performance of a satellite-to-ground communication link is affected by the ionosphere through which the signals pass. AM broadcast programs, which in the daytime can be heard only within a few tens of miles from the station, at night sometimes can be heard hundreds of miles away, due to the change from poor daytime to good nighttime reflection from the ionosphere. A long-range HF communication link which uses multiple hops or reflections from the ionosphere and ground, often experiences amplitude fading caused by interference between signals which have traveled from the transmitter to the receiver by two (or more) different ionosphere paths.
Since the sun's radiation creates and maintains the ionosphere, sudden variations in this radiation such as those caused by solar flares can affect the performance of radio systems. Sometimes these natural changes are sufficient to induce large transient currents in electric power transmission grids, causing widespread power outages. Lightning is known to cause substantial heating and ionization density enhancement in the lower ionosphere, and there are indications that ground-based HF transmitters, including radars and strong radio stations, also modify the ionosphere and influence the performance of systems whose radio paths traverse the modified region. Perhaps the most famous example of the latter is the "Luxembourg" effect, first observed in 1933. In this case a weak Swiss radio station appeared to be modulated with signals from the powerful Luxembourg station, which was transmitting at a completely different frequency. Music from the Luxembourg station was picked up at the frequency of the Swiss station.

The continual growth in the number of civilian and military satellite systems whose performances can be affected by changes in ionosphere conditions stimulates research on characterizing and understanding those effects, whether they be natural (solar related) or the result of controlled local modification of the ionosphere, using ground HF transmitters. The HAARP facility is capable of supporting research in both these areas of interest, by utilizing its flexible HF transmitting array and its suite of radio and optical diagnostic instruments for active experimental research. Effectively, the diagnostic instruments alone constitute a space-weather observatory (on the ground), which provides real-time data on the state of the dynamic ionosphere over much of Alaska.

Why is the DoD Involved?
The Department of Defense (DoD) conducts Arctic research to ensure the development of the knowledge, understanding and capability to meet national defense needs in the Arctic. Interest in ionosphere research at HAARP stems both from the large number of communication, surveillance and navigation systems that have radio paths which pass through the ionosphere, and from the unexplored potential of technological innovations which suggest applications such as detecting underground objects, communicating to great depths in the sea or earth, and generating infrared and optical emissions. Expanding our knowledge about the interactions of signals passing through or reflecting from the ionosphere can help to solve future problems in the development of DoD systems, and could as well enhance the utilization of commercial systems which rely on the expedient transfer of real-time communications.
Why Gakona, Alaska?
During HAARP's environmental impact study, Gakona was identified as one of two DoD-owned, Alaskan locations which satisfied the site selection criteria of being within the auroral zone, near a major highway for year-round access, away from densely settled areas and their electrical noise and lights that could interfere with sensitive research measurements, on relatively flat terrain, of realistic and reasonable construction and operation costs, as well as minimal environmental impacts. On October 18, 1993 following the July 15, 1993 issuance of the Air Force's Environmental Impact Statement which evaluated potential environmental effects of constructing and operating the HAARP facility, a Record of Decision (ROD) signed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations selected Gakona as the location for the HAARP facility.
Location of the HAARP Facility
The access road is located at Milepost 11.3 on the Tok highway. The geographic coordinates of the HF antenna array are approximately 62.39 degrees (North) latitude, 145.15 degrees (West) longitude. The geomagnetic coordinates for the facility are 63.09 degrees (North) latitude and 92.44 degrees (West) longitude.
What is the IRI and what does it transmit?
Basically, the IRI is what is known as a phased array transmitter. It is designed to transmit a narrow beam of high power radio signals in the 2.8 to 10 MHz frequency range. Its antenna is built on a gravel pad having dimensions of 1000' x 1200' (about 33 acres). There are 180 towers, 72' in height mounted on thermopiles spaced 80' apart in a 12 x 15 rectangular grid. Each tower supports near its top, two pairs of crossed dipole antennas, one for the low band (2.8 to 8.3 MHz), the other for the high band (7 to 10 MHz). The antenna system is surrounded by an exclusion fence to prevent possible damage to the antenna towers or harm to large animals. An elevated ground screen, attached to the towers at the 15' level, acts as a reflector for the antenna array while allowing vehicular access underneath to 30 environmentally-controlled transmitter shelters spaced throughout the array. Each shelter contains 6 pairs of 10 kW transmitters, for a total of 6 x 30 x 2 x 10 kW = 3600 kW available for transmission. The transmitters can be switched to drive either the low or high band antennas. Electric prime power is provided from an on-site power plant housing five, 2500 kW generators, each driven by a 3600 hp diesel engine. Four generators are required for operation of the IRI and the fifth is held as a spare. From a control room within the Operations Center, the transmission from each of the 180 crossed-dipole antennas is adjusted in a precise manner under computer control. In this manner, the complete array of antennas forms a narrow antenna pattern pointed upward toward the ionosphere. The transmitted signal diverges (spreads out) as it travels upward and is partially absorbed, at an altitude which depends on the transmitted HF frequency, in a small volume several tens of miles in diameter and a few hundred meters thick directly over the facility. The remainder of the transmitted signal either reflects back toward the earth or passes through the ionosphere into space, continuing to diverge as it does so. By the time it reaches the ionosphere, the intensity of the HF signal is less than 3 microwatts (0.000003 watt) per cm2, thousands of times less than the Sun's natural electromagnetic radiation reaching the earth and hundreds of times less, even, than the variations in intensity of the Sun's natural ultraviolet (UV) energy which creates the ionosphere.