Bikini Atoll Alive Half A Century After The BOOM! With Video
Half a century after the atomic blasts that devastated Bikini Atoll, vast expanses of corals in the area seem to be flourishing once again, much to the surprise of scientists.
American government scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on the tiny island (a part of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific) on March 1, 1954, and about 20 other nuclear tests were carried out on the atoll between 1946 and 1958.
Many of the natives were moved to Kili Island and today are compensated by the United States government.
Code-named Castle Bravo, the hydrogen bomb was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever exploded at the time at 15 megatons, making it 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II.
The massive explosion vaporized everything on three islands in the atoll, raised water temperatures to 55,000 degrees and left a crater that was 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) wide and 240 feet (73 meters) deep.
A team of scientists recently led a diving expedition into Bravo Crater and found an unexpectedly thriving coral community.
“I didn’t know what to expect — some kind of moonscape perhaps. But it was incredible, huge matrices of branching Porites coral (up to 8 meters [25 feet] high) had established, creating a thriving coral reef habitat,” said study team member Zoe Richards of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.
“Throughout other parts of the lagoon it was awesome to see coral cover as high as 80 percent and large tree-like branching coral formations with trunks 30 centimeters [12 inches] thick.”
A nearby atoll is likely seeding the coral recovery, the scientists think, and because the island is rarely visited, the coral is left to recover.
Richards said that the healthy condition of the Bikini corals was a sign of the resilience of corals after a major disturbance, if left undisturbed to recuperate.
The news wasn’t all good however, as there was a disturbingly high level of loss of coral species from around the atoll.
Forty-two species of corals are missing compared to a study made before the atomic tests were carried out.
Though ambient radiation readings are fairly low at Bikini, radioactive material accumulates in the soil and in produce such as coconuts, making them unsafe to eat.
It is unlikely that the Bikini natives will be able to return to the atoll in the near future, the scientists said.
(Fox)
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Amen, Bash
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Va3Z5cJKKE0
April 19th, 2008 at 8:00 pmMy father did the evacuation in 1946. (US NAVY)
April 19th, 2008 at 8:12 pmVERY cool Bash!
I wouldn’t be concerned that some species repopulate before others. Its the same way with forests. On Mount Desert Island in Maine, you can tell where they stopped the big fire (near 100 years ago now) because its almost all conifers on the side that burned and deciduous trees on the side that didn’t.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:29 pmThank God the earth is not as fragile as our would-be masters make out.
That clip is from Trinity and Beyond, the Atomic Bomb Movie, if anyone’s interested. Kickass movie narrated by William Shatner.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pmYou mean it’s NOT gonna spontaneously combust like Algore says it will???
April 19th, 2008 at 8:35 pmThe Video…WOW
.
I caught a glimpse of Jurassic Park on the idiot box and was reminded of a line from it, “life finds a way”.
I’m fairly certain Michael Crichton is a true genius (IQ 140+) and a Conservative, (I might be Wrong), anyways check out his web site, it’s fun and enlightening on Saturday night
http://www.crichton-official.com/
April 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
drillanwr (hembra blanca típica)
April 19th, 2008 at 9:23 pmhmmm………….
I’m thinkin’……not so much.
But wait, I’m confused, doesn’t Al Gore and the global warmists tell us that the icebergs are melting causing the water to rise and make the atolls vanish…how could atolls survive atomic blasts and global warming???
April 20th, 2008 at 12:21 amp.s. save the fish and test future weapons on Iranian Soil.
Landscape Tehran
April 20th, 2008 at 4:34 amp.s. save the fish and test future weapons on Iranian Soil.
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Brilliance … In more ways than one.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:10 amA remarkable recovery considering the damage that a Hydrogen bomb does to living things. Even with nuclear weapons, mankind will never be able to destroy all life.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:37 pmMankind seems to forget that he is not the overseer of life.
The gardener maybe…but not the boss-man.