The Army will again partner with the University of Hawaii this
August
on a $2.3 million underwater survey to try to
pinpoint the location of
nearly 600 tons of chemical weapons believed to have been dumped five
miles south of
Pearl Harbor in 1944.
Eric De Carlo, UH oceanography professor, said the more extensive
part
of the underwater survey will involve the use
of the Hawaii Undersea
Research Laboratory submersibles Pisces IV and Pisces V in November.
The Army says it believes that 16,000 M47A2 bombs containing nearly
600
tons of mustard agent were dumped in
the area around Oct. 1, 1944. Each
chemical bomb weighs 100 pounds and is nearly 32 inches long. The depth
in the
areas is estimated at between 1,000 and 1,500 feet.
 |
Besides the site the Army and the University of Hawaii scientists
will
examine this summer, the Army believes there are two
other dumping
areas in Hawaii waters.
The largest amount of chemical weapons is believed to have been
dumped
in an area 10 miles west of the Waianae Coast,
where nearly 2,000 tons
of lewisite, mustard, hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride were
discarded.
Lewisite and mustard are blister agents, which produce irritation
and
damage to the skin and mucous membranes, pain and
injury to the eyes
and, when inhaled, damage to the respiratory tract. Hydrogen cyanide
and cyanogen chloride are blood
agents, which, when inhaled, interfere
with the tissue oxygenation process, especially in the brain.
An additional 29 tons of mustard were disposed of 10 miles south of Pearl Harbor.
Chemical weapons were routinely dumped into the ocean from the end
of
World War II until outlawed by Congress in 1972,
Davis added.
Except for the lewisite, the chemicals were contained in bombs,
projectiles and mortar shells. The lewisite was housed in large
containers. Some of the chemical bombs were 1,000-pounders containing
hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride.
De Carlo said the methodology will be similar to a National Oceanic
and
Atmospheric Administration project last year that
surveyed the area
known as Ordnance Reef off Pokai Bay. That survey took two weeks and
combed a 5-square-mile area using
sophisticated sea floor mapping and
imaging equipment. NOAA concluded in March that there was little
contamination from the
conventional munitions found there.