08/01/2024 Stati Uniti (United States-USA), California (CA), Los Angeles County
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law and/or enforcement agency for assistance”.
BY ROSANNA XIA
It’s not just toxic chemical waste and mysterious barrels that litter the seafloor off the coast of Los Angeles. Oceanographers have now discovered what appears to be a massive dumping ground of military weaponry. As part of an unprecedented effort to map and better understand the history of ocean dumping in the region, scientists have found a multitude of discarded munition boxes, smoke floats and depth charges lurking 3,000 feet underwater. Most appear to be from the World War II era, and it remains unclear what risk they might pose to the environment. We started to find the same objects by the dozens, if not hundreds, consistently… It actually took a few days to really understand what we were seeing on the seabed,” said Eric Terrill, who co-led the deep-ocean survey with Sophia Merrifield at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “Who knew that right in our backyard, the more you look, the more you find.” Among the munitions documented were Hedgehog and Mark 9 depth charges — explosives that were typically dropped from warships to attack submarines. Researchers also identified Mark 1 smoke floats — chemical smoke munitions that were dropped by ships to mark locations or to conceal their movements. These findings, made public Friday, build on a stunning 2021 underwater sonar survey that identified tens of thousands of barrel-like objects between Los Angeles and Catalina Island. Merrifield and Terrill’s research team, assisted by a rare partnership with the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage, set sail again last year — this time with even more advanced sonar technology, as well as a high-definition deep-sea camera that sought to visually identify as many objects as possible. Discarding military waste at sea was not uncommon in decades past, but this once-forgotten history of ocean dumping continues to haunt our environment today. (A WWII-era practice bomb, in fact, washed ashore just last week in Santa Cruz County after a particularly high tide.) The U.S. Navy has confirmed that what the Scripps team discovered “are likely a result of World War II-era disposal practices” and noted in a statement that “disposal of munitions at sea at this location was approved at that time to ensure safe disposal when naval vessels returned to U.S. port.” Officials are now reviewing the latest Scripps findings and “determining the best path forward to ensure that the risk to human health and the environment is managed appropriately.”
Photo-Source: latimes.com
For more information visit denix.osd.mil/uxo
If you find anything that appears to be an explosive device, do not touch it, leave it where it is and call the police. We will contact the appropriate agencies to properly dispose of the item.
Dear editors, Biography of a bomb is aimed at highlighting the danger caused by unexploded bombs. Moreover, the most important aspect is that we work completely non profit, what drives us is raising awerness about this topic. We make use of your pictures and articles, but we need them to put a context in how findings are done. We trust in your understanding. We will (and we always do) cite the source and the author. We thank you for your comprehension
