What is HAARP?
HAARP stands for the “High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program,” a research facility in Gakona, Alaska. Construction began in the 1990s with support from the U.S. military and others, and 180 antennas stand on its vast site. Its purpose is to send strong radio waves toward the “ionosphere” (an electrically charged layer of the atmosphere tens to hundreds of kilometers up) and study its properties. Since 2015 it has been run by the University of Alaska.
The earthquake and weather weapon theory
Because it was a research facility involving the military and its work was hard for the general public to understand, conspiracy theories began to circulate in the 1990s that “HAARP is a weapon that artificially causes earthquakes, typhoons and heavy rain.” Every time a major earthquake or extreme weather occurs, rumors that “HAARP did it” spread online. In Japan, too, rumors that “it was an artificial earthquake” sometimes circulate after major quakes.
Why it cannot cause earthquakes
HAARP’s radio waves are sent toward the ionosphere high in the sky and do not reach deep underground. Earthquakes occur when strain built up by plate movements is suddenly released several to tens of kilometers underground, and their energy is incomparably greater than the facility’s radio waves. Weather, too, is determined by large movements of the entire atmosphere, so it is thought impossible to control it with an ionospheric research facility. HAARP holds open days to explain its research.
Why the conspiracy theory spreads
When a major disaster strikes, people tend to look for a cause, wondering “did someone make this happen?” The HAARP rumor is often linked with other conspiracy theories, such as chemtrails and the deep state.
