Does the U.S. hold a patent for HAARP (the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) and would such a patent prove that artificial earthquakes can be created by HAARP? No, that's not true: HAARP is a research facility managed under the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is not patented by the United States. Anti-HAARP activists used patents under American phycisist B. J. Eastlund to falsely claim HAARP has the ability to manipulate the weather. HAARP does not have the technology to alter the weather nor can it create earthquakes.
The claim appeared on TikTok (archived here) on November 14, 2023. The video contains a picture of a screenshot that supposedly details a U.S. patent on HAARP. Translated from Japanese into English by Lead Stories staff, it reads:
HAARP (also has an eavesdropping funciton) has been discovered to trigger earthquakes.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Nov 24 03:57:47 2023 UTC)
The screenshot also claims that HAARP was developed by B. J. Eastlund, an American physicist associated with Advanced Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI), and known for co-inventing the "fusion torch."
The video refers to U.S. patent no. 4686605, but it doesn't link directly to HAARP. Instead, it points to another invention described as a "Method and apparatus for altering a region in the earth's atmosphere, ionosphere, and/or magnetosphere." Eastlund, the inventor, asserts that weather modification is feasible by creating atmospheric plumes to function as lenses or focusing devices. However, there's no evidence that this technology was ever used by HAARP, as the patent has expired. The other mentioned patent, U.S. patent no. 5041834, by Eastlund, is titled "Artificial ionosphere mirror composed of a plasma layer which can be tilted." This patent has also expired, and neither of Eastlund's patents has been incorporated into the development or current operations of HAARP. Although both patents suggest that weather modification is possible, there is no mention of earthquake creation in the documents describing these inventions. Additionally, Eastlund's patents were often the subject of anti-HAARP activists who inflate and fuel speculations about HAARP's technologies, thus beginning the spread false claims about HAARP being able to manipulate the weather.
While HAARP was formerly managed by the U.S. Air Force, HAARP now operates as a program under the University of Alaska Fairbanks, specializing in the research of the ionosphere, which is a segment of Earth's upper atmosphere. Lead Stories has conducted multiple fact-checks regarding HAARP's alleged connections to earthquakes and consistently found that HAARP lacks the capability to generate earthquakes. Despite being a frequent subject of conspiracy theories suggesting weather manipulation and weaponization, it has been debunked the claim that the research equipment at the HAARP facility is capable of causing or intensifying natural disasters.
