### Discovered Under Greenland's Ice: Abandoned Cold War Base

NASA scientists operating a Gulfstream III aircraft in April made a surprising discovery while surveying the vast, frigid expanse of northern Greenland. Led by Chad Greene, the team never anticipated their radar would detect a manmade object buried deep beneath the ice sheet. As they scrutinized the ice, which in some places is over a mile thick, their radar revealed something peculiar.

Initially uncertain about the nature of the object, the team eventually identified it as Camp Century—the remains of a Cold War-era military base. Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1959, Camp Century was a network of tunnels carved into the Greenland Ice Sheet, later abandoned in 1967. Over decades, snow and ice accumulation buried the base approximately 100 feet below the surface.

The base was part of Project Iceworm, a covert initiative to explore the possibility of establishing a missile launch site under the ice during intense U.S.-Soviet Union tensions. Although the concept was ultimately deemed unfeasible and the base was decommissioned, it was initially assumed that Camp Century would remain entombed under ice indefinitely.

Previous radar scans had detected the base, but the new data obtained by the team's UAV Synthetic Aperture Radar allowed for unprecedented detail. According to Greene, this advanced radar technology made it possible to visualize individual structures within the secret city more clearly than ever before.

NASA’s Earth Observatory released an image highlighting the base's features deeply embedded in the ice sheet. Researchers are using these new maps to validate estimates of Camp Century’s depth and assess when melting ice could potentially expose any buried biological, chemical, or radioactive waste.

A study in 2016 indicated that climate change and accelerating ice melt could challenge earlier assumptions of the base's eternal preservation. This has raised concerns about the environmental repercussions if waste material from Camp Century is released.

The base originally attracted significant attention, including a visit from CBS News' Walter Cronkite in 1961. Its commander at the time, Captain Tom Evans, outlined the project's goals, which included evaluating new polar construction methods, testing a nuclear power plant, and providing a research hub within Greenland’s interior.

In 2016, 60 Minutes revisited Cronkite’s tour, highlighting the shift in human interest from Cold War threats to climate science. Producer Daniel Ruetenik remarked on the transformation of the Greenland Ice Sheet area from a strategic military site to a focal point for environmental research. "At the time, the Cold War was considered the greatest threat to humanity," Ruetenik noted. "Now, it serves a different purpose for climate scientists studying environmental changes."

This incidental discovery of Camp Century underscores not only the rich history buried beneath the ice but also the evolving significance of polar regions in the face of global climate change.