page 196 



DESCENT OF THE COLUMN, BAKER TEST. 



Shown here is the Baker burst water column start- 

 ing its descent back into the Lagoon. Pulled now 

 only by gravity, a puny force compared with that 

 produced by the bomb, the water drops relatively 

 slowly. Thundered back into the Lagoon from its 



mile-high vantage point, the millions of tons of 

 water form colossal waves and an expanding cloud 

 of spray and water plunging outward from the base 

 of the column. Within a few minutes this engulfing 

 mass, called by oceanographers the "base surge," 

 has shrouded approximately half the target array. 



