From Alaska to the South Pacific in one-hop

This paper discusses research conducted by The Very Low Frequency (VLF) Group at Stanford University introducing them and a project called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). This project utilizes the latest oceanographic and ocean-engineering technologies for exciting applications to space physics and radio science research. Sponsors consist of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program´s facility is a high power transmitter located in Alaska, capable of broadcasting powerful VLF radio waves into the Earth´s ionosphere. These waves propagate along the Earth´s magnetic field lines to the system´s geomagnetic conjugate point situated nominally 600 miles south of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. By studying the radio signals at this point, the VLF Group seeks to discover how energetic particles in the planet´s radiation belts interact with very low frequency electromagnetic waves. This ambitious challenge of operating an autonomous, stationary, floating observation platform is known as the HAARP One-Hop Experiment - South Pacific Buoy.