OPERATION IVY. Project 7.5. Dispersion of Gaseous Debris from Nuclear Explosions

Abstract

This project was designed to provide information for the solution of two problems: (1) dispersion of gaseous debris; and (2) initial cloud dimensions. Observations that were made indicated that the major portion of the Mike cloud entered the stratosphere--the cloud top reached 120,000 feet with the mushroom base at about 67,000 feet. The tropopause height at the time of the detonation was about 58,000 feet. The top of the King cloud reached about 74,000 feet with the mushroom base at about 40,000 feet. Samples for the measurement of the world-wide distribution of induced gaseous activity (tritium and carbon-14) were taken at widely separated geographical positions, including both northern and southern hemisphere points. These samples were periodically collected at each location over a period of six months following the detonations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1985
Accession Number
ADA995448

Entities

People

  • Philip W. Allen

Organizations

  • United States Department of the Air Force

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Animal Structures
  • Atmospheric Temperature
  • Base Lines
  • Classified Materials
  • Explosions
  • Ground Zero
  • Lapse Rate
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Nuclear Explosions
  • Observers
  • Security
  • Turbulent Mixing
  • United States

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Explosive Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space