Elugelab

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Enewetak Atoll, before Mike shot. Note island of Elugelab on left.

Enewetak Atoll, after Mike shot. Note crater on left.

Elugelab, or Elugelap (Template:Langx, Template:IPAc-mh<ref>Marshallese-English Dictionary – Place Name Index</ref>), was an island, part of the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It was destroyed in the world's first full-scale thermonuclear explosion, the Mike shot of Operation Ivy, on November 1, 1952.Template:NoteTag Prior to being destroyed, the island was described as "just another small naked island of the atoll".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EnvironmentEdit

The land had palm trees and the surrounding marine had Heliopora coral growth which was home to Eurythoe complanata and Haplosyllis spongicola, most of which are nowTemplate:When dead or dying.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ExplosionEdit

The fireball created by Ivy Mike had a maximum diameter of Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This maximum is reached a number of seconds after the detonation and during this time the hot fireball invariably rises due to buoyancy. While still relatively close to the ground, the fireball had yet to reach its maximum dimensions and was thus approximately Template:Convert wide.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The detonation produced a crater Template:Convert in diameter and Template:Convert deep where Elugelab had once been;<ref>Nuclear Weapon Archive</ref> the blast and water waves from the explosion (some waves up to Template:Convert high) stripped the test islands clean of vegetation, as observed by a helicopter survey within 60 minutes after the test, by which time the mushroom cloud had blown away. The island "became dust and ash, pulled upward to form a mushroom cloud that rose about Template:Convert into the sky." The outcome of the test was reported to incoming president Dwight D. Eisenhower by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman, Gordon Dean, as follows: “The island of Elugelab is missing!”.<ref>The Island is Missing!, article from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center</ref>

According to Eric Schlosser, all that remained of Elugelab was a circular crater filled with seawater, more than Template:Convert in diameter and "fifteen stories deep".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The blast yielded 10.4 megatons of explosive energy, 700 times the energy that leveled central Hiroshima.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Aerial footage of Elugelab and adjacent islands well before Mike shot at a time prior to the connecting causeway being created is available,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as is footage after the causeway was finished that supported the diagnostic Krause-Ogle box light pipe system,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with numerous trees removed in preparation of the shot also plainly evident,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> along with footage of the aforementioned helicopter survey of the Mike crater soon after the detonation,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and finally, high-altitude footage of the crater accompanied with details of its depthTemplate:Snd"Template:Convert deep"Template:Sndequivalent to the height of a "17-story building" and with an area large enough to accommodate about "14 Pentagon buildings".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The detonation also collapsed some natural crevices in the reef, some distance away from the rim of the crater.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Full radioecology recovery surveys were documented before and after each test series.<ref>For a brief online introduction into some of these studiesTemplate:Sndwith specific reference to the ecological effects of the 1.69-megaton Operation Castle Nectar shot, detonated in 1954 on a barge just north east of the crater of the 10.4-megaton Ivy Mike thermonuclear test see [1] a report by the University of Washington's Laboratory of Radiation Biology and [2].</ref>

Impact on the nuclear arms raceEdit

This test marked a pivotal moment in escalating the nuclear weapons development arms race. The Soviet Union conducted its own thermonuclear test three years later. It was believed that Soviet scientists were able to sustain the development of the hydrogen bomb partly because they received U.S. research details from atomic spy Klaus Fuchs. However, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists indicated in the 1990s that most of the information Fuchs provided may have been useless.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

GalleryEdit

Ivy Mike test.ogg

Ivy Mike test of 1952, this video contains a misleading post-production explosion sound overdubbed on what was a completely silent detonation from the vantage point of the camera, with the sound of the blast wave only arriving a number of seconds later, akin to thunder, with the exact time depending on its distance.
Operation Castle - Nectar - Detonation.ogv

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Redwing Seminole Detonation 320x240.ogv

Test shot Seminole of Operation Redwing, yield 13.7 kilotons, conducted on the coast of the island of Bogon/Bokon (Irene) on June 6, 1956.
Redwing Seminole 005.jpg

Redwing Seminole crater on Bogon/Bokon (Irene) island
Redwing Apache.jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref> detonated in a barge on July 8, 1956, at "Elugelab (Flora)" Template:Coord Template:Citation needed or off the coast of what remained of Teiter Island after the detonation of test shot Nectar of Operation Castle.
Enewetak Atoll - 2002-02-07 - Landsat 7 ETM+ SLC - b3218 - 15m.png

A 2002 true-color photograph of Enewetak Atoll. The relatively large Ivy Mike crater can be seen at the top of the atoll in this image with the smaller, adjoining Castle Nectar crater, in close proximity. The much smaller Redwing Seminole crater can faintly be seen on Bogon Island.
Atombombentest Redwing-Seminole 01.jpg

A single high-quality frame from test shot Seminole of Operation Redwing