326
The Body Electric
audio amplifiers, the first kinds to be discovered, around 1920, were
given fanciful names like whistlers, dawn chorus, and lion roars. Many
of them result from VLF waves produced by lightning, which bounce
back and forth from pole to pole along "magnetic ducts" in the magne-
tosphere. This resonance amplifies the original VLF waves enormously.
Satellite measurements have proven that artificial energies from power
lines are similarly amplified high above the earth, a phenomenon known
as power-line harmonic resonance (PLHR). Radio and microwave energy
also resonates in the magnetosphere. This amplified energy interacts
with the particles in the Van Allen belts, producing heat, light, X rays,
and, most important, a "fallout" of charged particles that serve as nuclei
for raindrops.
Recent work with sounding rockets has matched specific areas of such
ion precipitation with the energy from specific radio stations, and estab-
lished that the sifting down of charged particles generally occurs east of
the EMR source, following the general eastward drift of weather pat-
terns. In 1983, measurements from the Ariel 3 and 4 weather satellites
showed that the enormous amount of PLHR over North America had
created a permanent duct from the magnetosphere down into the upper
air, resulting in a continuous release of ions and energy over the whole
continent. In presenting this data at the March 1983 Symposium on
Electromagnetic Compatibility in Zurich, K. Bullough reminded the
audience that thunderstorms have been 25 percent more frequent over
North America between 1930 and 1975 than they were from 1900 to
1930, and suggested that the increased energy levels in the upper atmo-
sphere were responsible.
Since the mid-1970s there has been a dramatic increase in flooding,
drought,
and
attendant
hardships
due
to
inconsistent,
anomalous
weather patterns. It appears likely that these have been caused in part by
electropollution and perhaps enhanced, whether deliberately or not, by
the Soviet woodpecker signal. It now seems feasible to induce cata-
strophic climate change over a target country, and even without such
weather warfare, continued expansion of the electrical power system
threatens the viability of all life on earth.
Critical Connections
It may be hard to convince ourselves that something we can't see, hear,
touch, taste, or smell can still hurt us so dreadfully. Yet the fact must
be faced, just as we've learned a healthy fear of nuclear radiation. Certain