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Project 2.64 - Fallout Location and Delineation by Aerial Survey R, Graveson
OBJECTIVES
To survey the gamma radiation from fallout contaminated ocean areas
using an airborne detector.
To survey the areas of the sea, off Bikini Atoll, which are contaminated prior to shot, the information to provide both background radiation data and oceanographic studies of the mixing of the lagoon water into
the open sea,
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DESCRIPTION AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Three P2V-5 aircraft were equipped with gamma radiation detectors
to record the dose rate arriving through the thin aircraft skin from the
water surface below,
A fourth aircraft was available on a non-interference
basis with the security mission and was provided with detectors and
electronics,
Two aircraft flew over the fallout area simultaneously and observed
the radioactivity and altitude (operating altitude 200-400 feet),
The
information on radiation dose rate and altitude was continuously recorded
and telemetered to the Program Two Control Center aboard the USS ESTES.
There the telemetered information was correlated with the positioning
data of the aircraft which was relayed over a communication channel between navigator and the project plotter,
On D-day two aircraft surveyed near the atoll when the fallout was
completed,
One aircraft also surveyed near the YAG-39 and YAG-AO positions
before their return to base,
On subsequent days the aircraft followed a
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