Could Micro and Radio Waves Be a Contributor to Global Warming?

May 1, 2019 – Yesterday while recovering from my latest trip to donate blood I got into a conversation with a person who declared that she was a climate change skeptic, and in any case if there was global warming it was being caused by existing cellphone radio frequency transmissions in the atmosphere. She went on to say her greatest concern was how 5G would intensify the problem. I thought this would be an interesting topic to tackle as an alternative theory to why climate change is happening. To my surprise, I found a site devoted to this subject describing how microwave radio frequencies are polluting the atmosphere to cause what it describes as “Global RF Heating and erratic weather patterns.”

So what is the theory?

It postulates that microwaves used by wireless, radar, mobile, and satellite systems create a constant wave bombardment that causes molecular friction leading to warming and erratic weather changes.

What produces these microwaves?

Cell towers, radar systems, GPS satellites and ground stations, weather stations, and secret military projects like the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program run by the U.S. Department of Defense. The coincidences are interesting between the rise in global temperatures and the proliferation of the use of these technologies beginning as early as the 1950s. Of course, the same coincidence exists in the rise of greenhouse gas emissions correlated to global warming.

So how would microwaves contribute to atmospheric heating and erratic weather?

The Earth’s magnetic field traps microwaves in the atmosphere. The vast majority of what we produce cannot escape into space. The concentration of microwaves interacts with molecules and atoms in the air causing ionization which frees an electron to interact with other molecules in the atmosphere producing heat much the way a microwave oven heats objects placed inside it. But please note, microwaves heat solid or liquid objects, not the air.

The fact that the rise of radio frequency transmission volumes coincides with the growth of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions adds confusion to the theory’s viability of course. As does the nature of the spectrum of radio frequencies used in cellular communication. The reality is that radio frequency (RF) used by radio, television, computer, and cellular networks is non-ionizing unlike x-rays, gamma rays, and high energy ultraviolet radiation.

RF radiation exists in nature as well as is manufactured by our technical civilization. Nature delivers it from space, in lightning strikes during thunderstorms, and emanating from the Earth in small amounts as well.

Human-created RF is ubiquitous coming from radio and television signals, radar, WiFi, Bluetooth, microwave ovens, medical procedures, diagnostic imaging, welding, and cell towers. The theory postulates that life and the atmosphere through repeated exposure is altered.

Does the science support this theory?

Those who postulate it have produced little in the way of scientific evidence to support the theory. So I did a little bit of background research to find scientific literature on radiation, correlating it to climate change, and global warming specifically. I typed in the following search request on Google:

“Show me scientific papers that have looked at radio frequency radiation and climate change or global warming and seen a correlation?”

The result, not a single peer-reviewed journal paper or experiment on the subject. Not one proof, statistical chart, or graph to show how the two are interlinked.

I did come across content from the American Cancer Society, however, where there is a summary of research into RF exposure and a potential causal link to cancer. But even here the research concluded there is no evidence to risk for those highly exposed to RF radiation in the workplace or from the use of cell phones. And frankly, if microwaves and other forms of RF radiation were to be a problem, one would think close proximity to the source would present the greatest risk. But once again, RF exposure doesn’t seem to have any consequential or unintended impact.

In looking for a graph to show RF usage growth correlated to global temperature rise I could find nothing, even on the one website that postulates the theory.

In contrast I found plenty of graphs to show the correlation between rising temperature and greenhouse gas emission growth.

So if someone reading this posting has access to research in this field I will be happy to publish it. But I am more than convinced that this hypothesis has no leg to stand on.