A Hig TORITAL PERSPECTIVE
the cleanup activities so as to have only a
|
em.on program consisted of the rethati
upon
abilit
ll reh
hel eff
atoect
~Tima
min
j
cree ~
*
Felt a Met te di
-
easy baile
aminated
lation of debris and cont
moval and disposal or iso
ity
buildmengs and commun
als. tar
cons,stranuct
the
eri4
mat
ifitie
"
d ion
nti
the ofplaho
of more than 30,000
s,
anu
~ — and
and breadfruit trees. The cost was
ceremony was held at
© milhon. In April 1980, a
g mpletion of the cleanup and
pew tak, commemoratin co
the return of 543 Enewetak people to their ancesiral
‘nome. A short ,time later, the last elements of the Joint
Task Group departed Enewetak, leaving the laboratory as
the only American presence in the community.
Over the next 3 years, major emphasis was placed
anon studies of a portion of the atoll ecosystem which had
ne
+ been largely unexplored—the soft lagoon sub
“tis research was directed by Patrick L. Colin.
tie fallout material which remained from the
nucivat tests had settled in the lagoon floor, and the
dynamics of this biotope were little understood. As a result
of this research, a fresh perspective was acquired
16
What
had formerly been considered to be a largely passive system into which materials were sedimented from the water
column was revealed to be an area in which burrowing
organisms were continually reintroducing material into the
water column—a process which led to some revision of
the understanding of important biogeochemical processes.
Interest in these processes helped to stimulate interest, in
1981, in one more interdisciplinary initiative at Enewetak.
A significant improvement in understanding of the
deeper sediments of the lagoon required direct observation
and sampling, and these techniques required the use of a
research submersible. With the cooperation of the Hawaii
Undersea Research Laboratory, the research submersible
Makali’i was made available for a period in the summer of.
1981 (Fig. 9). Other sponsors of the expedition were the
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA)
and the DOE. The DOE support included use of the
research vessel Liktanur. Fifteen scientists and seven sup
port personnel participated in a program which included
*
ora:
rich
rge,
tula-
cay. na Resp ered
aed
9 The research submersible Makalii operated by the University of Hawali shown on one of ts 53 research dives in the
amy
-cewetak Lagoon in the summer of 1981. {Photo courtesy of HURL Program. University of Hawaii.)
5002429