Bikini Atoll

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Bikini Atoll
NASA image of Bikini Atoll
NASA image of Bikini Atoll
Waters Pacific Ocean
archipelago Marshall Islands
Geographical location 11 ° 37 ′  N , 165 ° 24 ′  E Coordinates: 11 ° 37 ′  N , 165 ° 24 ′  E
Bikini Atoll (Marshall Islands)
Bikini Atoll
Number of islands 23
Main island bikini
Land area 6.01 km²
Lagoon area 594.14 km²
total area 799 km²
Residents 9 (2011)
Map of the Bikini Atoll
Map of the Bikini Atoll
NASA Geocover 2000 satellite image
NASA Geocover 2000 satellite image
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / Altitude Missing
Bikini Atoll Nuclear Weapons Test Site
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Contracting State (s): Marshall IslandsMarshall Islands Marshall Islands
Type: Culture
Criteria : iv, vi
Reference No .: 1339
UNESCO region : Asia and Pacific
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 2010  (session 34)

The bikini atoll ( Marshallese Pikinni ) is located in the Pacific Ocean and with its 23 islands belongs to the Ralik chain in the territory of the Marshall Islands (until the 20th century: an island from the group of the German Eschscholtz Islands ). The atoll was as the site of numerous nuclear tests the United States is known in the 1940s and 1950s. The two-piece bikini swimsuit was named after him. On July 31, 2010, the atoll was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

geography

The atoll is located in the northern part of the Marshall Islands, about 12 ° north of the equator and about 3000 km northeast of New Guinea . The land area of ​​all associated islands is a total of 6 km². The enclosed lagoon is 40 km long, 24 km wide and covers an area of ​​almost 600 km². The lagoon is up to 60 meters deep. The total area is almost 800 km². The largest islands are Bikini (2.90 km²), Enyu (or Eneu, 1.23 km²), Nam, Enidrik and Aerokojlol.

population

Only the two largest islands, Bikini and Enyu, were permanently settled until 1946; In 1946, the main island's 167 residents and Enyu's 29 residents were relocated due to upcoming nuclear tests.

More than 42,000 people were involved in the preparations and implementation of the nuclear weapons tests. Since then, the islands of the atoll have been largely uninhabited, apart from a temporary repopulation in the 1970s.

history

The Marshall Islands were discovered by Spanish sailors in the early 16th century, but went unnoticed for a long time. The Bikini Atoll was first mapped in 1825 by Otto von Kotzebue and named Eschscholtz Islands in honor of his ship's doctor and research assistant Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz . In 1886 the islands were officially colonized by Germany as part of the Marshall Islands . In fact, however, they remained almost completely isolated because they were economically insignificant.

During the First World War they were taken over by Japan in 1914 , which later set up a small military post on Bikini. When the Marshall Islands were captured by the United States in the Pacific War in 1944 , only five Japanese were on bikinis. To avoid falling into American captivity, they hid in a hole in the ground and blew themselves up with a grenade .

Nuclear weapons tests

After the end of the Second World War , then US President Harry S. Truman decided in December 1945 to carry out nuclear weapon tests in order to determine their potential for destruction. Bikini Atoll and the neighboring Eniwetok Atoll were chosen as test areas because they were far from all regular shipping and air traffic routes. At the request of the Military Governor of the Marshall Islands, the head of the Bikinians, King Judah, agreed that his people would leave their homeland, believing they could return to the islands at a later date. The total of 167 bikinians were relocated to the smaller, uninhabited Rongerik -Atoll.

During the test series of 67 atomic bomb tests , over 42,000 technicians, scientists and military personnel were stationed on Bikini. In addition, 242 ships, 156 aircraft and 5400 test animals (rats, goats and pigs) were used.

Overview of the most important tests

The data given relate to universal time ( UT ). For the local bikini time, UT + 12h applies.

Operation Crossroads

Explosion of the atomic bomb "Baker" from the crossroad test in Bikini Atoll; the bomb was detonated 27 m below the surface of the water
bomb date place Explosive power
Able June 30, 1946, 10:00 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll Lagoon 23 kT
Baker July 24, 1946, 9:35 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll Lagoon 23 kT

Operation Castle

Fallout distribution of the Bravo hydrogen bomb
bomb date place Explosive power
Bravo February 28, 1954, 6:45 p.m. (UT) Nam island 15 MT
Romeo March 26, 1954, 6:30 p.m. (UT) Nam island 11 m
Koon April 6, 1954, 6:20 p.m. (UT) Eninman Island 110 kT
union April 25, 1954, 6:10 p.m. (UT) Bikini lagoon 6.9 MT
Yankee May 4, 1954, 6:10 p.m. (UT) Bikini lagoon 13.5 MT

The Bravo hydrogen bomb was the most powerful bomb ever detonated by the United States. Its explosive power was far more powerful than expected. At around 15 MT, it was equivalent to that of around 1,000 Hiroshima bombs . In addition to Bikini, the inhabited atolls of Rongelap and Rongerik were also contaminated by radioactive fallout. On the high seas, the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryū Maru (Happy Dragon V) was affected, the crew of which was contaminated . One sailor died.

Operation Redwing

Redwing-Dakota photographed from the air
bomb date place Explosive power
Cherokee May 20, 1956, 5:51 p.m. (UT) Namu Island - B-52 Drop 3.8 MT
Zuni May 27, 1956, 5:56 p.m. (UT) Eninman Island 3.5 MT
Flathead June 11, 1956, 6:26 p.m. (UT) Bikini lagoon 365 kT
Dakota June 25, 1956, 6:06 p.m. (UT) Bikini lagoon 1.1 MT
Navajo July 10, 1956, 5:56 p.m. (UT) Reef between Namu and Yurochi islands 5 MT
Tewa July 20, 1956, 5:46 p.m. (UT) Reef between Namu and Yurochi islands 5 MT

All the names of these bombs are also names of American Indian tribes.

Operation Hardtack I

bomb date place Explosive power
Fir May 11, 1958, 5:50 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 1.36 MT
Nutmeg May 21, 1958, 9:20 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 25.1 kT
Sycamore May 31, 1958, 3:00 a.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 92 kT
Maple June 10, 1958, 5:30 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 213 kT
Aspen June 14, 1958, 5:30 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 319 kT
redwood June 27, 1958, 5:30 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 412 kT
hickory June 30, 1958, midnight (UT) Bikini Atoll 14 kT
Cedar July 2, 1958, 5:30 p.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 220 kT
Poplar July 12, 1958, 3:30 a.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 9.3 MT
Juniper July 22, 1958, 4:20 a.m. (UT) Bikini Atoll 65 kT

All the names of these bombs are the names of species of trees.

Missile launches

To investigate the fallout in 1956 from the position of 11 ° 35 '  N , 165 ° 20'  O from many types of missiles Loki and Asp started by the bikini Atoll from.

Target ships

The tests carried out as part of Operation Crossroads primarily served to gain knowledge of the damage that nuclear explosions cause to ships. For this purpose, numerous ships and boats of various sizes and types were drawn together in the lagoon. In the first test, 77 ships were exposed to a surface explosion. In the second attempt, the bomb was detonated under a landing craft , which caused much greater damage to the 89 ships and boats used and caused some of the ships to sink hours or days after the detonation.

The United States largely relied on its extensive inventory of decommissioned ships. Today there are wrecks in Bikini Lagoon: USS Saratoga , USS Carlisle , USS Anderson , USS Lamson , USS Gilliam , USS Arkansas , USS Pilotfish , USS Apogon .

In order to compare the shipbuilding quality of foreign constructions under the effect of the atomic bombs, captured Japanese ships were also brought to Bikini. The Nagato and Sakawa of the Agano class are still there as wrecks . The German cruiser Prinz Eugen , which was awarded to the USA as spoils of war in 1945, survived the tests and was towed to Kwajalein . There the leaking ship overturned on December 22, 1946.

Fate of the indigenous people

Official flag of the Bikini Atoll

For the bikinians, the relocation to the Rongerik Atoll turned out to be a disaster because of the poor supply. The islands of the small atoll were previously considered uninhabitable because they provided little food and drinking water. The supplies made available only lasted for a few weeks. After only two months, the settlers asked to be brought back to their homeland. It was only over a year later that their severe malnutrition was officially registered, and it was almost another year before the bikinians were relocated again. On the island of Kwajalein , they lived for six months in tents right next to the airport buildings . Eventually they were resettled on the remote island of Kili , where they have been dependent on external supplies ever since.

In 1968 the US President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the imminent return of the 540 bikinians at the time. The radioactive contamination should be eliminated and the original vegetation restored. Huts and houses were built later. The move was slow, as there were hardly any transport options after the withdrawal of the military. In 1972 a monitoring team found increased radioactivity in the crabs living in the lagoon . Further measurements in 1975 and 1977 showed that the drinking water and the fruits of the island were unsuitable for human consumption. The Department of Energy then began delivering water and food. At the end of 1978 the atoll was evacuated again. The 139 residents mainly settled on Majuro and Ejit in the Majuro Atoll , around 830 km southeast of Bikini.

Bikini today

Bikini Atoll: memorial plaque 50 years after the Bravo hydrogen bomb was dropped in 1954

On 5 March 2001, decided Nuclear Claims Tribunal that the US Bikinianern the total of about 1.1 billion US dollars have to pay. This includes the depreciation of the atoll, compensation for pain and suffering and reconstruction aid. Whether the money will be paid is questionable as the decision is not a court ruling. Right now, bikinians keep calling the US Congress' Committee on Petitions .

It is still unclear when the Bikini Atoll can be repopulated. However, the islands are no longer a restricted area. The ships sunk during the nuclear tests lie in the lagoon; they are very popular as destinations for wreck divers. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency , investigations from 1997 show that staying there is harmless; only the regular consumption of locally produced food is warned, as this would lead to radiation exposure of 15  mSv / year.

In 2009 the US saw no more danger to human life on the islands and gave the Rongelapese an ultimatum: "Either you return to your atoll by October 2011 or your support for your community will be removed."

Bikini swimsuit

The bikini swimsuit is named after the atoll. Inspired by the headlines of the nuclear weapons tests on the atoll, the fashion designer and former car engineer Louis Réard named his new bathing suit with the name Bikini and promoted it with the slogan " le bikini, la première bombe an-atomique ", a play on words with the terms bombe atomique ( Atomic bomb) and anatomique ( anatomical , concerning the body structure). On July 5, 1946, the striptease dancer Micheline Bernardini presented the tight two-parter for the first time in the Piscine Molitor swimming pool in Paris .

literature

Web links

Commons : Bikini Atoll  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bikini . In: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): German Colonial Lexicon . tape  3 . Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920 ( uni-frankfurt.de ).
  2. ↑ Edward G. Purdy: 2001075: GSA Bulletin, 2001, Vol 113. (PDF) The Geological Society of America, Inc., accessed on 22 December 2012 .
  3. ^ F. Raymond Fosberg: Atoll Research Bulletin No. 315 - Vegetation of Bikini Atoll 1985. (PDF; 1.4 MB) Smithsonian Libraries, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Bikini Atoll Reference Facts. bikiniatoll.com, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Islands - Burned by a Thousand Suns. Spiegel Online, January 12, 2011, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  6. ↑ a b c Jack Niedenthal: A short history of the people of Bikini Atoll. bikiniatoll.com, August 2010, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  7. ↑ Ingo Bauernfeind: Radioactive to all eternity - The fate of the Prinz Eugen . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8132-0928-0 , p. 102 .
  8. ^ Operation Castle. nuclearweaponarchive.org, accessed March 22, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Bikini in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed December 22, 2012 (English).
  10. ↑ a b Ingo Bauernfeind: Radioactive to all eternity - The fate of the Prinz Eugen . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8132-0928-0 , p. 108 .
  11. ^ IAEA: Conditions at Bikini Atoll
  12. ↑ USA want to persuade indigenous peoples to return half a century after nuclear tests. Society for Threatened Peoples, accessed August 26, 2016 .
  13. ↑ GATSBYMagazine: Le Bikini ...