Amchitka Island

About

Amchitka Island (; Aleut: Amchixtax̂) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island, with a land area of roughly 116 square miles (300 km2), is about 42 miles (68 km) long and 1 to 4 miles (1.6 to 6.4 km) wide. The area has a maritime climate, with many storms, and mostly overcast skies. Amchitka was populated for more than 2,500 years by the Aleut people, but has had no permanent population since 1832. The island has been part of the United States since the Alaska Purchase of 1867. During World War II, it was used as an airfield by US forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. Amchitka Island was selected by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to be the site for underground detonations of nuclear weapons. Three such tests were carried out: Long Shot, an 80-kiloton (330 TJ) blast in 1965; Milrow, a 1-megaton (4.2 PJ) blast in 1969; and Cannikin in 1971 – at 5 Mt (21 PJ), the largest underground test ever conducted by the United States. The tests were highly controversial, with environmental groups fearing that the Cannikin explosion, in particular, would cause severe earthquakes and tsunamis. Amchitka Island is no longer used for nuclear testing. It is still monitored for the leakage of radioactive materials.

Amchitka Island is the southernmost of the Rat Islands group in the Aleutian Chain, located between 51°21′N 178°37′E and 51°39′N 179°29′E. It is bounded by the Bering Sea to the north and east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south and west. The eastern part of the island is a lowland plateau, with isolated ponds and gently rolling hills. There is low but abundant vegetation, consisting of mosses, lichens, liverworts, ferns, grasses, sedges, and crowberry. The center of the island is mountainous, and the western end is barren and vegetation is sparse. Amchitka Island has a maritime climate, often foggy and windswept, with cloud cover 98 percent of the time. While temperatures are moderated by the ocean, storms are frequent. Geologically, the island is volcanic, being a part of a small crustal block on the Aleutian Arc that is being torn apart by oblique subduction. It is "one of the least stable tectonic environments in the United States."

The human history of Amchitka Island dates back at least 2,500 years, with the Aleut people. Human remains, thought to be of an Aleut dating from about 1000 AD, were discovered in 1980. Amchitka Island is said to have been seen and named St. Makarius by Vitus Bering in 1741, was sighted by Joseph Billings in 1790, and visited by Shishmaref in 1820. In 1783, Daikokuya Kōdayū and 15 Japanese castaways landed on Amchitka Island after drifting for seven months. The castaways were taken care of by Russian employees of Zhigarev and hunted with indigenous people. Six of the castaways died in three years.

In June 1942, the Japanese occupied some of the western Aleutian islands, and hoped to occupy Amchitka. Eager to remove the Japanese, the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to move quickly to regain the territory. American planners decided to build a series of airfields to the west of Umnak, from which bombers could attack the invading forces. The United States Army established bases at Adak and 13 other locations. At the War Department's suggestion, an initial reconnaissance of Amchitka was carried out in September 1942, finding that it would be difficult to build an airstrip on the island. Nevertheless, planners decided on December 13 that the airfield "had to be built" to prevent the Japanese from doing the same. A further reconnaissance mission visited Amchitka from 17 to 19 December, and reported that a fighter strip could be built in two to three weeks, and a main airfield in three to four months. The plan was approved and began in 1942. American forces made an unopposed landing on Amchitka Island on January 12, 1943. Despite facing difficult weather conditions and bombing from the Japanese, they made the airfield usable by February 16. The Alaska Command was now 80 km (50 mi) away from their target, Kiska. The military eventually built numerous buildings, roads, and a total of three airstrips on the island, one of which would later be rebuilt and used by the Atomic Energy Commission in the late 1960s. At its peak, the occupancy of Amchitka Island reached 15,000 troops. The Aleutian Islands campaign was successfully completed on August 24, 1943. In that month, a strategic intercept station was established on the island, remaining until February 1945. On 31 December 1949 the Air Force base was closed due to insufficient personnel and staff. The Army closed its communications facility at Amchitka Island in August 1950. On 31 December 1950 the Air Force 2107th Air Weather Group withdrew the last of its personnel from Amchitka Island and the facility was abandoned. The site later hosted an Air Force White Alice Communications System from 1959 to 1961, and a temporary relay station in the 1960s and 1970s. A prototype Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar system existed on Amchitka Island between 1991 and 1993 to conduct surveillance on Russia.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.