The Hessdalen Project

The EMBLA 2000 Mission in Hessdalen
... ABSTRACT. In August 2000 a team of italian physical scientists, working in collaboration with Norwegian colleagues from Østfold College, carried out an instrumental expedition in Hessdalen (Norway), which was just the first of a series of future scientific missions planned by the joint italian-norwegian EMBLA Project. The expedition was aimed at studying unexplained anomalous atmospheric luminous phenomena occurring in the Hessdalen valley since about 20 years, and it was particularly focussed to the study of the radio spectrum in the UHF, VLF and ELF wavelength ranges. The employed radio spectrum analyzers, which were automatically in function all the time for 25 days, permitted to discover highly anomalous periodic signals which were caracterized by a spike-like and a doppler-like morphology and which were mostly detected in the VLF radio range. Moreover, during the many planned skywatching sessions, it was possible to sight repeatedly luminous atmospheric phenomena of both plasma-like and structured types in varius points of the Hessdalen valley; some photographs were also taken and subsequently analyzed. This paper represents a preliminary report on this mission, in which both radio and visual phenomena are described. Some speculative physical models explaining some aspects of the recorded anomalous radio signals are discussed. [continued]

...An automatic measurement station was put up in Hessdalen in August 1998.

According to the scientists, it is now clear that the phenomen is not UFO-related, but are luminous balls containing some form of energy. [continued]

...if the author and everyone else believes this to be nonsense then the project wouldn't be funded.

If you wish to make claims then you need to back them up. The anti-crackpot claims can be crackpot themselves.

I find it interesting that debunking claims are often expected to be taken on faith.

Next, if the author and everyone else believes this to be nonsense then the project wouldn't be funded.

He frequently cites the famous Pascal's Wager, named after the 17th-century physicist who renounced science for a life of faith, saying that one should bet on God's existence-because, if you win, you will win everything. This impulse drives governments and companies to invest huge sums in dubious ventures, because one pay-off could be immense, even if a hundred others fail.

As always, Ivan, I object to your characterization of the scientific method requiring an equivalent responsibility between claims and evaluations of those claims. If what you suggest were true, scientific journals would be ethically bound to launch a research project to verify every claim they received instead of doing what they do now if they get something of questionable merrit: throw it directly into the trash.

There is only one burden of proof here and it lies on the one making the claim that something is happening.

It is widely accepted that people will fund research (and buy penny stocks, spend venture capital, buy lottery tickes, and hit on the hottest girl at the bar) based on Pascal's Wager alone

Regarding the article in the OP, it contains some very mundane pictures, no control data for the spectrum analyzer, an awful lot of idle speculation, and no conclusions. There just isn't anything there to debunk - it doesn't say anything useful.

The guy in question is a crackpot engineer who has also "investigated" the claims concerning the Seljord serpent, our national version of Nessie.

He is not to be credited, before he publishes something in a peer-reviewed journal.

Oestfold College is a very low level institution with minimal prestige.

The only scientific establishments in Norway worthy of mention are our 4 universities, in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim (NTNU) and Tromsø.