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Explanation of Photographs
Although many feet of film were used during Operation SANDSTONE to photograph tha atomic clouis, vary few pictures suitable for a scientific report on the
clouds resulted. Since H-hour was before daylight, and because the atomic clouds
had become sqmethat diffused by the tine sufficient Light became available, most
photographs of the weapon phanomwena show only the hemispherical condensation clouds
or the fireballs. Most of the film used for the clouds wis so completely underexposed that it printed completely black. The resuits fron the IRAY Day cloud were
very disappointing to photographers who had hoped to obtain pictures of the spectac-

ular masbroom.

Fewer pictures of the YOK Dey cloud were attempted, and almost none

were made of tha ZEBRA Day cloud. When sunlight for photographs was available, the
clouds were being dispersed; and the photographers did not make mny pictures of
cloud shapes which to them did not seem sufficiently well defined to be of Intorest,
After two or threes hours the clouds bed many characteristics of mtural clouds, eo
that to an minforned cbeerver, they did not appear to be particularly significant.

dnother feature of the atomic clouds which was discouraging to photographic
personnel was that as the clouds dispersed, the cloud material extended over such a

large area that it was impossalble to frame all of a particular cloud in a single photograph. No camera had a wide-angle lens suitable for such a large coverage, and
there was no attempt to adapt a camera for terles of panoramic views.

In assenbling

pictures for this report, two photographs have been joined side by slide if they give

a more compliste representation of a cloud even though the two photographs may have
been made at slightly different times.

It hea not been feesible to make neagurements of the clouda directly from
the photographs. This ie primariiy because the distances to the clouds are not sufficiently well determined,

It 18 such easier to mike measurements fran the theodolite

data and the sketches than to use the photographs,

Such data as are available from the calculations on the preceding mges Inve

been added to the photographs.
that the diagram titled

Tha shape of the top of the TRAY Day cloud we such

on page 35 could be used

A few colored photographs of different views of each ofthe atomic olouds
exint, but the type of printing facilities available prevented the use of color in

this report,

However, the colors of the clouds will be described as the photographs

of each test are discussed below.

XRAY DAY-Excopt for not showing the colors of the cloud, these photographs

give 5 reasonably good portrayal of tha cloud up to H-hour plus three hours.

With

this cloud as well as the other two clouds, the coloration was largely determined by
the amount of sunlight available. After the blue-violet of thea luminescence faded,

about three or four minutes after H-hour, tha clowl appeared to be a dnl white, while
the naturel comilus appeared a dirty grey. At about H-hour plus ten minutes, the upper
part of the TRAY Day cloud appeared white and the lower portion had a dirty, smoky
color. Than at H-hour plus twenty ainutes wtil H-hour plus thirty minutes, the upper
portion of tha cloud took on the wiwid colors of the sunrise, ‘The east side of the
mushroom became a brilliant reddish-orange, while the remainder of the clowl remelned

a dull white,

4a ths sun rose higher, this coloration apread over the cloud and be-

came less brilliant.

The cirrus-type pluse sleaye appeared much whiter than the pri-

mary cloud, and showed up vividly against the background of dark blue aky.

In direct

sunlight, the globular mass bad a cream colored appearance when contrasted to the intense white of the cirrus plums or to natural cirrus. Even when the'top had spread
until it greatly resembled natural cirrocomulus, the slight coloration was noticeable.
The lower portion of the IRAY Day cloud, which appeared to conaist of aacke and dust,
had a distinct reddish-browm color that persisted as long as it could
be seen,

YOKE DAY-aithongh photographs of this cloud from the surface were not possible until about H-hour plus 35 minutes, cameras in aircraft, sbere the cloud uaa
silhouetted against the light in the eestern sky, gave usable pictures as early as
H+hour plus 15 minutes,

to obtain « rough idea of ita djameter, tut the simpe of the TOKE Dey cloud ws such
that this type of dispersion analysis was not applicable. No pictures of the ZEBRA
Day cloud are available wtil about H-hour plus 45 sinntes, 15 minutes after the tine
that it became necessary to end the apparent dispersion analysis because of the poor
quality of the aximuth angle data. There is no my of adding dimensions to the primary mass to the photographs of the ZEBRA Day cloud except by mean’ of the upper winl

Tbe photograph of this cloud on page 68 does not show the shape of the cloud
as well as would be desired, but a color photograph mide at the came tine shows the
detaile clearly, The color photograph bas been used to make a sketch of this cloud.
This eketch ie presented on page 50,

ture on the shape of the cloud are shown on page 42. However, the lengths and widths
of the TRAY and YOKE Dey clouds have been entered on photographs made one hcur past
H-hour. These data bare been determined from the estimated winds and the diagrams

and then into a yellowish cream color. The color of the stem of the cloud was the
reddish-brown color of the saoke and dust of which it consisted, At about B-hour
plus one hour, the time that the photograph on page 68 was made, the stem appeared

vectors, and this does not seem to be worthwhile since the effects of the wind struc-

titled Clouds Hours. Where altitude dita are

given, 5,000 foot intervals are used in most cases because the wind deta selected for
detersining the shapes of the clonda were for 5,000 foot olevations my.

At about fifteen minutes just after H-hour, the rising sm colored this

cloud a dark reddish-orange.

After that time, the orange faded into a dirty-yellow

reddish-brom even io direct eumlight,

The top portion of the cloud, between 35,000

ani 55,000 feet, appeared as a broad band of clrrocumlus, and ms alecet white.

ZEBRA DAY-is fer es 18 know, there are no original black and white photo-

A better umerstamding of the shapes and sizes of all of the atomic clouis
4s obtainable by using the photographs in conjunction sith the diagrams titled

graphs of the ZEBRA Day cloud,

The quality of the majority of the cloud photographs included here ia poor,
Very few of the pictures lave contrasts euitable for half-tome reproduction, and many
of the detaile which were evident in the original photographs were lost in printing,

reddish-brown that had been seen in the etems af the previous atomic clouds, There
seemed to be little or no moisture to give whitenesa to any part of this cloud,

CloudsHours, beginning on page 39.

from colored prints,

The pictures on peges 69 and 70 have been reproduced

When the em show on the ZEERA Day cloud, the entire cloud was the sane

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