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.