No, It’s Not the Government Weather Machines, and it's not Climate Change
—It’s Just Business As Usual Here On Earth
How the Sun Powers Our Solar System
The sun is a massive nuclear fusion reactor, and it is the ultimate source of power for everything in our solar system. Comprising 98% of the mass of the solar system, it produces unfathomable amounts of energy by converting 4 billion tons of hydrogen into helium every second. This process, known as nuclear fusion, occurs at the core of the sun, where temperatures soar to about 15 million degrees Celsius.
During fusion, hydrogen atoms collide and combine to form helium, releasing energy in the form of light and heat. The energy produced in the sun’s core takes thousands of years to travel to the surface, but once it escapes, it radiates out into space. Only a tiny fraction of this energy reaches Earth, but it’s enough to power life, the climate, and all the natural processes we experience.
Energy from the Sun: The Numbers
The sun produces a staggering 384.6 yottawatts (YW) of energy—equivalent to 384.6 septillion watts. Of this, a mere fraction hits Earth, but even that small portion is massive:
Earth receives approximately 174 petawatts (PW) of solar energy at the upper atmosphere.
To put that into perspective, 1 petawatt (PW) equals 1,000 terawatts (TW), so Earth receives 174,000 TW of energy from the sun at any given moment.
Not all of this energy reaches the surface. About 30% is reflected back into space by clouds, atmospheric particles, and Earth's surface. The remaining 70%—about 121,800 TW—is absorbed by the land, oceans, and atmosphere. This energy drives weather systems, powers the water cycle, and sustains ecosystems. For comparison, humanity's global energy consumption is only about 20 TW, meaning the Earth receives thousands of times more energy from the sun than we could ever use.
Solar Cycle 25: A Natural Driver of Solar Activity
The sun doesn’t emit energy at a constant rate. It goes through 11-year cycles of increased and decreased solar activity, known as solar cycles. Right now, we’re in the midst of Solar Cycle 25, which began in December 2019 and is expected to peak around 2024-2025.
During the peak, known as solar maximum, we see an increase in sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These solar events can impact Earth’s magnetic field, causing geomagnetic storms that disrupt satellites, power grids, and communication systems. However, they don’t significantly change Earth’s climate or weather patterns.
Solar Flares and Their Impact
One of the most powerful types of solar activity is a solar flare. These are intense bursts of radiation from the sun’s surface, caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in sunspots. The most powerful flares are classified as X-class flares, and they can cause disruptions to radio communications, satellite systems, and even trigger auroras.
For example, a recent X9.0-class solar flare—the strongest so far during Solar Cycle 25—temporarily increased the amount of energy hitting Earth. Solar flares can add about 0.1% more energy to the total solar radiation reaching the planet. While 0.1% sounds small, remember that 0.1% of 174,000 TW is an additional 174 TW—enough to temporarily disrupt technology but not enough to cause significant climate changes.
HAARP: What Is It, and Could It Control the Weather?
The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), based in Gakona, Alaska, is a scientific project designed to study the ionosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere that begins around 30 miles above the surface. The ionosphere plays a key role in radio wave propagation and satellite communications.
However, HAARP has long been the subject of conspiracy theories that claim it can control the weather. The theory goes that by sending high-frequency radio waves into the ionosphere, HAARP could disrupt it and cause changes in atmospheric pressure, steering weather systems, or allowing more solar radiation to reach Earth’s surface.
How Much Energy Would HAARP Need to Disrupt the Ionosphere?
Let’s entertain this theory for a moment. For HAARP to disrupt the ionosphere enough to cause weather changes, it would need to produce a significant amount of energy. Here’s why that’s highly unlikely:
HAARP’s Energy Output: HAARP’s transmitters can emit up to 3.6 megawatts (MW) of energy into the ionosphere. That may sound impressive, but compared to the 174,000 terawatts of solar energy Earth receives, it’s minuscule. HAARP’s output is over a million times smaller than the solar energy reaching Earth.
The Ionosphere Repairs Itself: Even if HAARP could disrupt the ionosphere, it wouldn’t last long. The ionosphere is a dynamic, self-repairing system. Any localized heating caused by HAARP would be temporary and quickly return to equilibrium.
Limited Effect on Solar Energy: The ionosphere primarily affects radio wave propagation, not the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. Most of the sun’s heat energy—in the form of visible light and infrared radiation—passes through the atmosphere below the ionosphere. HAARP would have no significant impact on the weather.
In short, while HAARP can influence small, localized areas of the ionosphere, its energy output is far too small to have any significant, lasting effect on global weather patterns. Natural processes like solar flares are far more capable of affecting the ionosphere than HAARP could ever be.
The Real Culprit: Historical Weather Events and Natural Cycles
Before HAARP even existed, Earth had already experienced countless extreme weather events. From ice ages to super storms, the planet's climate and weather have always been driven by natural forces, not human technology. Let’s take a look at some significant weather events that occurred long before HAARP:
1. The Dust Bowl (1930s)
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a decade-long drought in the American Midwest, caused by a combination of natural weather patterns and poor agricultural practices. It led to massive dust storms and the displacement of thousands of people.
2. The Great Galveston Hurricane (1900)
The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history struck Galveston, Texas, in 1900, killing between 6,000 and 12,000 people. There was no HAARP, yet nature produced one of the most catastrophic storms on record.
3. The Little Ice Age (1300-1850)
Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Earth experienced a period of cooler temperatures known as the Little Ice Age. Glaciers expanded, winters became harsher, and agriculture suffered. This was caused by natural climate variations, not human interference.
4. The Floods of 1861-1862 (California)
One of the worst flooding events in U.S. history, the California floods of 1861-1862 transformed much of the Central Valley into an inland sea. This event occurred long before HAARP and shows that extreme weather is nothing new.
5. The Ice Ages
Perhaps the most extreme example of climate variability, the Ice Ages covered much of the Northern Hemisphere in glaciers. These glacial periods were driven by natural cycles in Earth’s orbit and solar energy, not technology.
Conclusion: Nature, Not HAARP, Is in Control
While it’s easy to blame new technologies like HAARP for today’s extreme weather events, history tells us that natural processes have always been responsible. From the Dust Bowl to Ice Ages, Earth has experienced far worse before humans had any influence. The sun, through its cycles of activity, plays a far larger role in space weather, and Solar Cycle 25 is just another example of natural variability.
In reality, HAARP’s energy output is too small to disrupt the ionosphere in any meaningful way. If you’re looking for the real cause of extreme weather, look no further than nature itself.
Can solar flares impact global temperatures?
Solar flares themselves don’t have a direct and significant impact on global temperatures, but they can cause temporary changes in specific atmospheric layers. Here's a detailed explanation of how solar flares affect the Earth’s atmosphere and why they don’t have a major influence on global temperatures:
What Are Solar Flares and Their Effects?
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation caused by the release of magnetic energy on the sun. These flares emit a wide spectrum of radiation, including X-rays, ultraviolet (UV) rays, and electromagnetic waves. When a solar flare occurs, it can increase the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth, particularly in the ionosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere.
Solar flares can have the following effects:
Disruption of Communications: Solar flares often interfere with radio waves in the ionosphere, causing interruptions in satellite communications, GPS systems, and radio signals.
Geomagnetic Storms: When solar flares are accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), they can trigger geomagnetic storms, which can cause beautiful auroras and disrupt electrical grids.
Increased UV and X-ray Radiation: Solar flares bombard the Earth with increased amounts of high-energy radiation, which interacts with the atmosphere.
Why Solar Flares Don’t Directly Impact Global Temperatures
While solar flares do increase the amount of energy hitting Earth's atmosphere, the type of energy (primarily X-rays and ultraviolet radiation) is not the kind that directly heats the lower atmosphere (the troposphere), where weather and global temperatures are determined.
Here’s why solar flares don’t significantly impact global temperatures:
1. Energy Types and Atmospheric Layers
Most of the energy from solar flares is absorbed in the upper atmosphere (ionosphere and thermosphere), where it causes temporary heating but does not reach the surface in significant amounts. The bulk of the heat energy that affects global temperatures comes from visible light and infrared radiation, which solar flares don’t significantly increase.
2. Temporary Effects in the Ionosphere
Solar flares cause temporary heating in the ionosphere, but this heat doesn’t transfer down to the lower atmosphere, where it could affect global temperatures. The ionosphere is hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface, and its temporary disturbances don't impact the climate systems responsible for weather or long-term temperature changes.
3. Short Duration of Solar Flares
Solar flares are short-lived events, usually lasting only minutes to hours. Even though they cause spikes in radiation, these spikes are not sustained long enough to affect Earth’s overall energy balance or cause noticeable changes in global temperatures.
Can Solar Cycles Influence Global Temperatures?
While individual solar flares don’t have much of an impact on global temperatures, the 11-year solar cycle does have a small but measurable effect. Solar cycles, which involve fluctuations in the sun’s overall energy output, can contribute to slight changes in global temperatures over long periods. Here’s how:
Solar Maximum vs. Solar Minimum: During the solar maximum, when there are more sunspots and solar activity (like flares), the sun emits slightly more energy, including visible and infrared radiation. This increased solar output can contribute to small increases in global temperatures.
Solar Minimum: During solar minimum, when sunspot activity is low, the sun emits slightly less energy, which can correspond to a very small cooling effect on Earth’s climate.
However, these changes in solar output over the solar cycle are very minor—on the order of 0.1%—and their impact on global temperatures is small compared to other factors like greenhouse gas emissions, volcanic activity, and ocean currents.
Historical Example: The Little Ice Age
One of the best-known examples of a possible link between solar activity and climate is the Little Ice Age (circa 1300-1850). During this period, solar activity was at a minimum for several decades (in particular, the Maunder Minimum, when sunspots were almost nonexistent), and global temperatures dropped slightly. However, the exact role of solar activity in this cooling period is still debated, as other factors, such as volcanic activity and changes in ocean circulation, also played significant roles.
In Summary
Solar flares do not significantly impact global temperatures because the energy they emit is absorbed in the upper atmosphere, not in the troposphere, where weather occurs.
The small temporary heating in the ionosphere caused by solar flares does not influence Earth’s surface temperatures.
The solar cycle—the 11-year fluctuation of the sun’s energy output—can cause minor variations in global temperatures, but the effect is much smaller compared to other drivers of climate change.
Solar flares may be dramatic events that can disrupt technology and communication systems, but they don’t play a major role in global temperature fluctuations. The sun’s natural variability over decades and centuries has a more substantial (though still small) effect on long-term climate changes.