Bikini Atoll - Island
| Bikini Atoll - Island | |||
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| Bikini Atoll | Island | ||
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| Bikini Atoll, meaning "coconut place," is an atoll listed as a World Heritage Site in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It consists of 23 islands surrounding a deep 594.1 km2 (229.4-square-mile) central lagoon at the northern end of the Ralik Chain (approximately 87 kilometres (54 miles) northwest of Ailinginae Atoll and 850 kilometres (530 mi) northwest of Majuro). After the Second World War, the atoll was chosen by the United States as a nuclear weapon testing site. It would be the site of the fourth atomic bomb detonation and would go on to be the site of many more tests. The 167 people who lived on Bikini were instructed to leave so the military could test nuclear bombs, a forced relocation. In 1946, they relocated to Rongerik, a small island east of Bikini Atoll; however, it proved to have inadequate resources to support the population. The islanders began experiencing starvation in early 1948 and were moved again to Kwajalein Atoll for six months before choosing to live on Kili Island, one-sixth the size of their home island. To this day, the Bikini islanders are prohibited from returning home due to nuclear contamination. In 1972, about 100 residents voluntarily returned to their home island. However, scientists discovered dangerously high levels of strontium-90 in the well water in May 1978, and the residents' bodies were found to contain abnormally high concentrations of caesium-137. They were evacuated again in September 1978. Bikini Atoll is occasionally visited today by divers and a few scientists, and a handful of caretakers occupy it. As part of the Pacific Proving Grounds, Bikini Atoll was the site of 23 nuclear weapons tests between 1946 and 1958, when it was discovered that the fallout from atomic testing was much more dangerous than was previously thought. The nuclear blasts had a combined yield of about 77 Mt. Bikini Atoll has conserved direct tangible evidence which conveys the power of nuclear tests, i.e. the "Nuclear Fleet" of sunken ships sent to the bottom of Bikini Lagoon by the Operation Crossroads tests in July 1946. On 1 March 1954, the Castle Bravo nuclear test took place on Bikini Atoll, with a yield of 15 Mt, about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The blast created the gigantic Bravo Crater, 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) in diameter, in the northwest corner of Bikini Atoll. Through its history, Bikini Atoll symbolises the dawn of the nuclear age, despite its paradoxical image of peace and of earthly paradise. Within Bikini Atoll, Bikini Island is the northeasternmost and largest islet, measuring 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) long. About twelve kilometres to the northwest is the islet of Aomen. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo |
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| Diving Activity at Bikini Atoll | |||
| 9 dive sites at this City / Island: | |||
| HIJMS Nagato | IJN Sakawa | USS Anderson (DD-411) | USS Apogon (SS-308) | USS Arkansas (BB-33) | USS Carlisle (APA-69) | USS Lamson (DD-367) | USS Pilotfish (SS-386) | USS Saratoga (CV-3) | |||
| 30 dives at this City / Island: | |||
| 362 | 363 | 364 | 365 | 366 | 367 | 368 | 369 | 370 | 371 | 372 | 373 | 374 | 375 | 376 | 410 | 411 | 412 | 413 | 414 | 415 | 416 | 417 | 418 | 419 | 420 | 421 | 422 | 423 | 424 | |||