Approximately 100 feet below the ice, they found an intriguing man-made structure. The announcement was made by NASA's Earth Observatory, revealing that the find was initially a mystery to the team.

While flying over northern Greenland, NASA scientist Chad Greene and a team of engineers used radar instruments to probe the ice sheet below. Their radar detected something unexpected: the network of structures turned out to be Camp Century, a secret Cold War military base.

Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained the amazement of the team when they discovered the long-buried base. Camp Century, built in 1959 and abandoned in 1967, was hidden under accumulated snow and ice. It was initially constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to test the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic.

Flying above the ice sheet in April on a NASA Gulfstream III plane, the radar revealed detailed structures clearly indicative of human activity. Using UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar), the team was able to produce detailed maps with more dimensionality, uncovering the ambitious project from the last century.

Signs of Camp Century were detected in previous airborne surveys, but this recent mission provided a more comprehensive understanding of the derelict military site. The secret project that remained frozen in time has now been unveiled by modern technology, shedding light on a hidden chapter of Cold War history.