176 DASA 2019-2 The tests were conducted, as I mentioned, at these various atolls and we may take a quick look, starting in 1946—not in 1947, as in the statement in the first volume. Figure 24 is a photograph of Eniwetok. The atolls were selected, according to the Task Force reports, because they presented an ideal environment in which to work, They were isolated, they were in relatively favorable weather areas, and they did provide a safe anchorage for the fleet; probably equally as important, there were a number of outposts were instruments could be based. As far as those of us who were inmerested in the environmental sciences were concerned, the atolls were idea) because they did pro- vide a good cross-section of native flora and fauna. Each of these tiny islets has a peculiar environment quite its own, just as the entire atoll has its peculiar type of environment. ‘The emergent land area, about three square miles in each of the atolls, is divided up into some 20 small igiands in each atoll, The he land plants are limited to those forms that can survive in a tropical environment subjected to wide variations in temperature and salinity. ace? Fig ure oe ES a2) 24. Photogroph of portion of outer reef at Eniwetok Atoll, the site of numerous weopors tests. From L. Donaldson. a ee .