Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
During an April 2024 scientific survey, NASA researchers discovered the remains of Camp Century, a Cold War-era U.S. military base buried beneath Greenland’s Ice Sheet. The discovery was made using radar aboard a Gulfstream III aircraft designed to map ice depths.
Camp Century, constructed in 1959, was part of Project Iceworm, a secret U.S. initiative to build a network of 2,500 miles of tunnels in Northern Greenland. These were intended to house intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) capable of striking the Soviet Union.
NASA’s radar equipment captured detailed images of the base, revealing individual structures within the tunnels. Chad Greene, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), highlighted the unprecedented clarity of the imagery.
The base was abandoned in 1967 because of high maintenance costs and the risk of tunnel collapse. The site remained buried under layers of ice until its recent discovery, providing a unique snapshot of Cold War military ambitions.
The melting Greenland Ice Sheet has raised concerns about environmental hazards. Camp Century contains remnants like fuel, waste, and other contaminants, which could be exposed as the ice continues to thaw.
In 2017, the U.S. government acknowledged the potential dangers posed by climate change and committed to working with Denmark and Greenland to manage the base’s environmental impact.
Scientists warn that the ongoing melting of Greenland’s ice could have broader consequences for global sea level rise. Accurate data on ice thickness is essential to predict how ice sheets respond to warming oceans and atmospheric conditions.
Camp Century serves as a relic of the Cold War and an important resource for studying climate change. NASA plans to use the data gathered from this discovery to advance understanding of the effects of warming temperatures on Earth’s polar regions.