-23- . reported Thus, it seems desirable to report radioactivity of plankton on an ty be com- ash weight basis, even though other organisms and substances might g to drain more desirably be considered on a wet weight basis. preparing Figure 8 shows the trend of radioactivity in the plankton samples rganisms from Rongelap lagoon (from 1954 through 1958) related to time, using n being a log-log plot of the beta activity on an ash weight basis as determined 2re based with a methane-flow counter. wet plank- dotted line showing a decline slope of -3.5 was fitted by inspection to *educed to the minimal points near 300, 600 and 1500 days, points removed as far Data are from Tables 3 and 4. The as possible from the peaks caused by the Redwing and Hardtack series Ire con- of detonations. 2s between The maximum level of the lagoon plankton a day or two after March iS, as seen l, 1954 may be conjectured by extrapolating back one cycle on Figure 8. es was only It appears that maxima must have been at least 20, 000 uc/kg of ash. elap Island, Further reference to Figure 8 shows that the original detonation, iniwetok Bravo, must have contributed 100 times as much activity as the Redwing ' wet basis. series, and Redwing 20 to 100 times as much as the Hardtack tests. ilinginae The decline picture is characteristic in its pattern. r than in the fallouts, followed by steep declines until the next fallout. tivity per ception appears in the region of Kabelle Island in late 1954 nae levels 1956 to 1957. (Table 3). Rises result from An ex- and from | Figure 9 shows, on log-log plot, the decay patterns of six samples counted on more than three Occasions. Ordinal values on the vertical ye POR supe gE

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