Future Operations of HAARP with the UAF’s Geophysical Institute

Abstract:

The High frequency Active Aurora Research Program (HAARP) in Gakona Alaska is the world’s premier facility for active experimentation in the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. The ionosphere affects communication, navigation, radar and a variety of other systems depending on, or affected by, radio propagation through this region. The primary component of HAARP, the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), is a phased array of 180 HF antennas spread across 33 acres and capable of radiating 3.6 MW into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The array is fed by five 2500 kW generators, each driven by a 3600 hp diesel engine (4 + 1 spare). Transmit frequencies are selectable in the range 2.8 to 10 MHz and complex configurations of rapidly slewed single or multiple beams are possible. HAARP was owned by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/RV) in Albuquerque, NM but recently was transferred to the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF/GI). The transfer of ownership of the facility is being implemented in stages involving a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) and an Educational Partnership Agreement (EPA) which are complete, and future agreements to transfer ownership of the facility land. The UAF/GI plans to operate the facility for continued ionospheric and upper atmospheric experimentation in a pay-per-use model. In their 2013 “Decadal Survey in Solar and Space Physics” the National Research Council (NRC) made the recommendation to “Fully realize the potential of ionospheric modification…” and in their 2013 Workshop Report: “Opportunities for High-Power, High-Frequency Transmitters to Advance Ionospheric/Thermospheric Research” the NRC outlined the broad range of future ionospheric, thermospheric and magnetospheric experiments that could be performed with HAARP. HAARP is contains a variety of RF and optical ionospheric diagnostic instruments to measure the effects of the heater in real time. The UAF/GI encourages the scientific community to plan experiments at HAARP and bring their remote sensing instruments to HAARP for extended or permanent operation. The power and flexibility of HAARP and its unique location in the subarctic will help secure the future of this facility as the foremost laboratory for active experimentation in the ionosphere and upper atmosphere.