A NASA researcher made a surprising discovery beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. While searching for the ice bed, scientist Chad Greene stumbled upon a clandestine US Army base known as Camp Century, concealed 100 feet below the surface. This Cold War-era facility, often referred to as “the city under ice,” was built over a period from 1959 to 1960, consisting of 21 underground tunnels spanning approximately 9,800 feet.
According to reports, radar images captured by NASA’s Gulfstream III aircraft, used by the team, distinctly displayed the layout of the base. Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, mentioned that the unexpected discovery of Camp Century took the team by surprise, initially not knowing its true nature.
Utilizing an Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), NASA scientists revealed the hidden base, employing a radar technology commonly used to uncover concealed structures worldwide.
Camp Century was established following a defense agreement between the United States and Denmark in 1951. The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History explained that the base’s purpose was to provide facilities for NATO forces in Greenland’s defense. The construction of Camp Century involved transporting 6,000 tons of materials via slow-moving bobsleds from Thule Army Base to the site.
Initially, engineers carved out extensive passageways deep into the snow and ice, later constructing wooden buildings with steel roofs and installing a nuclear reactor to power the facility. While the base facilitated geological research, there are suspicions that its primary function was to support Project Iceworm, a covert US nuclear weapons initiative involving ballistic missiles stored beneath the ice.
Project Iceworm’s ambitious plans to expand the base with additional tunnels and missile storage facilities never materialized, leading to Camp Century’s decommissioning in 1967. The revelation of the nuclear weapon program came years later in 1997.
Abandoned and engulfed by ice, Camp Century now lies dormant, with remnants of nuclear waste left behind by the US Army. Climate scientists predict that the base, including its buried nuclear waste, may resurface by 2090 due to the effects of climate change.