Mid-Pacific Research Laboratory

The Mid-Pacific Research Laboratory was a marine research facility located in a former US Coast Guard LORAN station on the northern tip of Enewetak Island, part of the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.[1] It was opened in 1952, when it was called the Eniwetok Marine Biological Laboratory,[2] on the island of Medren,[3] and in the early part of its operation, it was typically staffed and active when nuclear testing by the United States was being carried out.[1] In the years following the end of nuclear testing in 1958, the facility was moved to Enewetak Island,[3] where it was still staffed for only part of the year until 1974, when it gained full-time research staff. In 1979, its name was changed to the Mid-Pacific Research Laboratory.[1] Research carried out at the lab included studies on energy relationships, symbiosis, colonization of the land by marine organisms, metabolic adaptations of marine organisms, and taxonomy.[2] The lab was funded by the University of Hawaii and the US Department of Energy[1] The laboratory was closed down after the Department of Energy ceased funding it in 1983,[1] although research was still carried out for some years afterwards with alternative sponsorships.[3]

Enewetak map