WEAPONSTESTING Os 1952 continued atomic test. The Mike blast vaporizes Elugelab Island leaving a crater one mile in diameter and 175 feet deep in S . * the coral reef. NOVEMBER 16 Enewetak: Ujelang Atoll, + 150 miles southwest of "ground zero” is contaminated with radioactive fallout from the 500 kiloton King test. "Prior to...and for weeks leading up to the blast the prevailing upper level troughs indicated that wind was blowing to the vicinity of our island." os A U.S. MILITARY COMMANDERS ARRIVE IN FEBRUARY 1946 TO TELL THE BIKINIANS THEY MUST LEAVE THEIR ATOLL TO MAKE Gene Curbow, HO Weather Reporting Element, (U.S.Air Force) Rongerik Atoll, 1954. on WAY FOR THE NUCLEAR TESTS. — at Bikini and Enewetak lasting through ed by the L.S. The Rongerik weather station begins regular observations to determine temperature, barometric conditions and wind velocity up to and including 100,000 feet alove sea level. FEBRUARY -Rongelap: John Anjain, the Ma- gistrate of Rongelap Atoll, is warned by an American Navy friend that the Rongelap people may be in danger from the upcoming Bravo hydrogen bomb test. But he doesn't know the date of the test, and says there are no orders from Washington to evacuate the people. Rongerik: The weather station men in- tensify their observations, as the test date draws near, checking surface wind directions and barometric conditions hourly and upper level weather condi- tions every two hours. They report to Joint Task Force-7 (JTF-7) Headquarters that winds are blowing east from Bikini towards Rongerik and other inhabited atolls, MARCH Bikini: Operation CASTLE begins OelO es fe The series includes Bravo, a*i5- megaton hydrogen bomb blast, and five other tests. Koon test (April 7) is a and 3 Army men arrive on Rongerik Atoll, 125 miles east of Bikini, to set up a weather monitoring station in preparation for Operation CASTLE. This nuclear test series is to include the largest announced hydrogen bomb explod- ‘May. listed at 110 kilotons; information on the others yemains classified. Approx- imately 7,200 military men participate in this test series. ~ MARCH 1 Bikini: At 6:45 a.m., the Bravo surface detonation creates a blinding © flash of light followed by a fireball of intense heat, tens of millions of degrees, shooting upward at a rate of 300 miles an hour. Within 10 minutes the giant nuclear cloud reaches more —than 100,000 feet. Winds several hundred miles per hour at the center and ; 70 to 100 miles an hour at the blast's edge rock the placid lagoon like a full scale typhoon. “The sky was suddenly completely lit up, brighter, if possible than daylight itself...The shock wave that came after the initial blast was so tremendous that all the pre-fabricated buildings were damaged in one way or another. Almost all of the windows just blew out." Donalée .aker, Air Force radio ‘ 1954 JANUARY Rongerik: 25 Air Force operator, Rongerik Atoll, 1954. (continued on page 8) GR Se ee ee es 0 a A A ee A ee a ee ASe Oe WOeeaes Oe ee