The
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is a congressionally initiated program jointly managed by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The HAARP complex is situated within a 23-acre lot in a relatively isolated region near the town of
Gakona, Alaska. When the final phase of the project is completed in 1997, the military will have erected 180 towers, 72 feet in height, forming a "high-power, high frequency phased array radio transmitter" capable of beaming in the 2.5-10 megahertz frequency range, at more than 3 gigawatts of power (3 billion watts).
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HIPAS has several diverse experimental facilities: a 1-megawatt rf transmitter to produce ELF/VLF (
Extremely Low Frequency and
Very Low Frequency) electromagnetic (EM) generation by the absorption of
radio frequency (rf) power in the arctic
ionosphere including ion
cyclotron excitation; a 100 kW rf
plasma torch used in research on the destruction of
hazardous waste; a 2.7 m
liquid mirror telescope used with one of several
lasers for ionospheric stimulation and measurement; an
Incoherent Scatter Radar (a new project using 88 ft. diameter antenna at
NOAA Gilmore Creek site 34 km SW of HIPAS as the receiving antenna with the transmitter at HIPAS).
HIPAS is in the process of adding a very high power (terawatt) laser (recently obtained from
LLNL) to perform laser breakdown experiments in the ionosphere. Two
Diesel electric generators (1500 HP 4160 V, 3-phase, 1.2
MVA each) are used to power the experiments. There are a number of computers on site, and a high-speed data line to
UAF is available. While these experiments are useful in measuring the properties of the ionosphere, they produce insufficient amounts of energy to modify it in any significant way. However, hotspots can be created within the ionosphere where this radiation is focused, temperatures can be elevated by up to 1600 K causing expansion of the ionosphere and subsequent changes in pressure and temperature, which in turn lead to changes in the the global meteorology.

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