CHAPTER 2
CASTLE TESTS
The bursts of the Castle series are given in Table 2,1.
Table 2.1.
Ov Bw no
Burst
Mo.
Code
nene
Date
1954,
Bravo
Feb.28
Romeo
Mar.26
Koon
Apr. 6
Union
Apr.25
Nectar
May 13
Yankee
May }
Castle Test Series
Time
oct
1845
1830
1820
1610
1810
1820
4
Estimated vertical mushroon
>
dimension
| ‘Base
T
Y
Total |
15
|TLO00%s offt. ;
7
11
| 62
| 62
0. ai
1
7
: 53
13.5
B
1.7
1 WS
~—"
1h
110
-
db
110
72
~
With the exception of the third burst, the Castle series con-
sisted of high-yield detomations.
The first burst was detonated en
Bikini Atoll, the succeeding four from barges in the Bikini lagoon
and the last on Eniwetok Atoll.
As shown in Table 2.1, most of the radioactive clouds created
in the Castle series extended to very great heights, with the mushroom of the cloud well in the stratosphere, and the greater part of
the cloud in levels beyond the reach of routine meteorological
obeervations, For this reason, it hss been impossible to prepare
adequate metecrological trajectories to determine the path of the |
debris at various levels. The network of upper sir observing
stations in the tropics is ertremely sparse at best, and wind reports
at levels above 0,000 feet are virtually nonexistent, with the
exception of a few from stations in the Mershell Islands and
adjacent areas established especially for this test series. Even
at these statins, the highest observations rarely extend sbove
100,000 ft.