China And Russia Have Run Controversial Experiments That Has Modified Earth's Atmosphere

19 DEC 2018

China and Russia have jointly conducted a controversial series of experiments to change Earth's atmosphere with high-frequency radio waves.

From a Russian installation called the Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility near the town of Vasilsursk, east of Moscow, scientists emitted high-frequency radio waves to manipulate the ionosphere, while the China Seismo‐Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) measured the effects on plasma disturbance from orbit.

It's not the first time research like this has been conducted, but news of the China-Russia developments – conveyed via a published paper on the experiments, and a recent article in the South China Morning Post – has ignited worry over the intended military applications of this kind of science.

That's because the ionosphere, and the ionised gas (plasma) that inhabits it, is crucial to radio communication. By selectively disturbing the charged particles that make up this part of the upper atmosphere, scientists and governments can boost or block long-range radio signals.

These preliminary experiments – conducted in June, and referenced as a test-case for future related ionosphere research – has had extreme effects.

In one of the experiments, the affected area of ionosphere disturbance reportedly covered 126,000 square kilometres (49,000 square miles). In another test, ionised gas in the atmosphere increased in heat by 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Chinese and the Russians involved 'claim' the research is purely scientific, and harmless to the atmosphere.

"We are not playing God," an unidentified researcher who when asked, refused to give out his a name, told the South China Morning Post.

The Sura base was established by the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, but is said to have been the inspiration for an even larger atmospheric heating facility in the US called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which was built in Alaska a decade later.

HAARP – which is a considerably more powerful ionospheric pump facility than Sura – was initially partly funded by the US military, but is now administered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The US Air Force hasn't given up on atmospheric manipulation though, and among other projects has in recent times staged dropping plasma bombs of charged particles into the upper atmosphere to see how that affects the ionosphere.

Not to be left out, China has 'acquired' the technology to build an advanced ionosphere heater in the city of Sanya, on the island province of Hainan at the south of China, which the Post suggests can manipulate the ionosphere over the entire South China Sea.

Is there anything nefarious going on? China has been accused by various parties of jamming GPS signals this year, and ionospheric manipulation experiments could  have been involved.

This field of science has too long been plagued by conspiracy theories drummed up by a  so called "paranoid blogosphere", but appears now to be real.

That said, even some in the ionosphere manipulation research community have found the recent announcements about the June experiments a little worrisome.

"Such international cooperation is very rare for China," physicist and engineer Guo Lixin from China's Xidian University, who claims he was not involved in the experiments, told the Post.

"The technology involved is too sensitive for you."