Artificial Aurora
Where will the HAARP artificial aurora appear in the sky?
Use the Google Earth smartphone app or application for PC or Mac to open the following .kml file to view where the HAARP artificial aurora will appear in the sky from arbitrary locations. In principle, the HAARP artificial aurora can be viewed several hundred kilometers from the HAARP Observatory but at distances further than this it will be beneath the horizon.
Download the .kml file to view the HAARP artificial aurora region from arbitrary locations in Google Earth:
HAARP_Artificial_Aurora_for_Google_Earth.kml (be sure to download the file and open it in Google Earth instead of viewing it in your web browser)
Adjust the view appropriate to your desired location. (The implementation of this tool is not perfect and parts of the HAARP aurora locator may sporadically disappear for certain zoom levels and view directions.) Use the time adjustment appropriate to the experiment time to use the stars as an additional visual reference. Note the view direction can be determined by the Google Earth compass but, remember that the difference between geographic north and geomagnetic north is substantial at high-latitude locations such as Alaska.
If you do not have Google Earth or otherwise have trouble using the application, screen shot images of selected Google Earth views from locations in Alaska are available:
Fairbanks (at UAF behind the Elvey Building, view is to the geographic south-southeast)
Poker Flat Research Range (in front of the Neil Davis Science Operations Center)
Anchorage (at UAA near the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, view is to the geographic east)
Juneau (at UAS near the dorms, view is toward the geographic northwest)
HAARP (near the control room, view is nearly directly straight up)
Key to the Google Earth HAARP aurora views:
The artificial aurora region viewed in Google Earth is indicated by a multicolored line. This line is aligned with the geomagnetic field starting from the HAARP main transmitter. Most auroral processes are aligned with the geomagnetic field because it is difficult for the energetic electrons and ions causing the aurora to move across the field.
- The grey lines indicate altitudes of 100 to 150 km and 300 to 350 km. The HAARP artificial aurora is not expected to appear in those regions but they are useful reference altitudes for the natural aurora.
- The green line indicates an altitudes between 150 and 200 km, which is the approximate lower bound of the HAARP artificial aurora.
- The yellow line indicates an altitudes between 200 and 250 km, which contains the typical altitude of the HAARP artificial aurora.
- The red line indicates an altitudes between 250 and 300 km which is the approximate upper bound of the HAARP artificial aurora.
About the HAARP artificial aurora
The artificial aurora (properly called radio-enhanced airglow) occurs at an approximate altitude range of 150 to 300 km altitude and can be photographed, conditions permitting, from distances several hundreds of kilometers from HAARP, including near the main population centers of Alaska: Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. The HAARP artificial aurora is usually not sufficiently luminous to be seen with the unaided eye except under exceptional conditions, and even the best case it is as bright (though much smaller in appearance) as the Andromeda galaxy.
A consumer-grade camera with a long-exposure feature is sufficient to photograph the artificial aurora, and photographing the Andromeda galaxy is a good baseline test of sufficient exposure length and light pollution conditions. The artificial aurora can either appear as a spot or blob in the sky, or as a ray aligned with the geomagnetic field above HAARP. The following links show selected (free access) example images and videos of the artificial aurora from papers in scientific journals, from individual scientists, and from a photographer who unintentionally imaged the HAARP artificial aurora from approximately 100 miles north of Poker Flat Research Range (30 miles north of Fairbanks or 400 miles north of HAARP). All observed colors in the HAARP artificial aurora have been observed in the natural aurora.
However, the most luminous HAARP artificial aurora colors are the 557.7 nm wavelength or so-called green-line emission (that is the most common color visible in the natural aurora to observers at high latitudes) and the 630.0 nm wavelength red-line emission (that is the most common color visible in the natural aurora to observers at mid latitudes). On the few occasions that the artificial aurora is (barely) visible to the unaided eye, it is most likely the 557.7 nm green-line emission that is seen because the human eye is much more sensitive to green light than to red (the artificial aurora will still appear white or grey to the unaided eye because it is very dim). Digital cameras may be more likely to capture the 630.0 nm wavelength red-line emission.
Example images of the HAARP artificial aurora
Magnetic zenith enhancement of HF radio-induced airglow production at HAARP (Pedersen et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 2003)
Artificial optical emissions at HAARP for pump frequencies near the third and second electron gyro-harmonic (Kosch et al., Ann. Geophys. 2005)
Temporal evolution of pump beam self-focusing at the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (Kosch et al., J. Geophys. Res. 2007)
Creation of artificial ionospheric layers using high-power HF waves (Pedersen et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 2009)
Mystery Solved! It is An Artificial Aurora (A photographer accidentally captured the HAARP artificial aurora and posted an inquiry about the image to the Digital Photography Review forum on 16 March 2013. Not only is the resulting discussion and resolution interesting, but the photographs also show the camera settings used to obtain striking images of the artificial aurora from hundreds of kilometers north of HAARP.)
Near real-time video of artificial aurora infrared emissions recorded from the HAARP site using a scientific imager (Also a telephoto lens was used. If this structure could be observed with the unaided eye from HAARP, then it would appear approximately the same size as the moon.)
Time-lapse video of the HAARP artificial aurora "red line" emissions recorded from Poker Flat (One second of video corresponds to approximately one minute of observation time.)
Where and how to view the HAARP artificial aurora
First, observers in and near Alaska need a dark location free of significant light pollution. Even the most luminous artificial aurora usually cannot be seen with the unaided eye, so long-exposure photographic methods must be used.
Photographers near HAARP in the Copper Valley vicinity should aim their cameras near vertical to photograph the HAARP artificial aurora which is typically located approximately 200 km directly above Glennallen. Photographers outside the Copper Valley should aim their cameras toward Glennallen with at an elevation angle that decreases with increasing distance Glennallen.
The approximate location of the artificial aurora can be located with the Google Earth application by downloading and opening the .kml file available through the links at the top of this page. The ground-level view displayed in Google Earth will show the approximate general region where the artificial aurora or airglow induced by high-power HAARP transmissions will occur so photographers can frame their images accordingly.
This effort is funded by NSF Award #1702328 and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.