Summary

1,

Leveis of activity of the plankton for the eastern Lagoon

were sampled nine times in 1954-58.

The first observedlevel

on Maren 26, 1954, 25 days after detonation of “Bravo" at Bikin4,
was, expressed in microcuries per kilogram of planktonic ash, about

By mid-December 1954, 1t had decline to 50,. aad. by late

2000.

October 1955, to 6.

Fallout from the Redwing series raised the

July 1256 level to approximately 100.

In July 1957 levels were

still between 15 and 100, but by early March 1958, shad declined
to 0.3.

Fallout from the Hardtack series rained juguat 1958.”

levels to only 0.8 -4 ye/kg ash, the last observation.
Tae decline rate, disregarding the two péake following Redwing
and Hardtuck, but including their later residual effects,, was steep

with a slope of -3.5.
2.

——

o°
.
O

2

.

From the data for the years 1954-57, it was shown that results

were nearly twice as consistent when based upon éshas upon wet
f

weight, and that there was no significant. atererspoe4
in activity
between samples taken with fine and coarse meshed neta. .

3.

|

On the asn weight basis, the levels An 1955, at ailinginae atoll’

were no iiigher than at Rongelap Atoll, ‘whereas theywere higher on

the wet weight basis.
4.

.

no oo

Decay slopes of pre-Redwing samples ranged from ~2,6to -2. 4,

while the decline slope for the lagoon as a whole over thie period

w28 -5.5, so that the decline was more rapid'than the decay.

Select target paragraph3