NASA Scientists Accidentally Discover Secret City Under Greenland Ice

NASA scientists have made a surprising discovery beneath Greenland's thick ice sheet: an abandoned Cold War-era military base called Camp Century, now buried 30 meters below the surface.

A Cold War Relic Frozen in Time

Camp Century was built in 1959 as part of the United States' secret Iceworm Project, a bold plan to create a 4,000-kilometer network of tunnels under the ice. These tunnels were intended to house 600 intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed at the Soviet Union during the height of Cold War tensions.

Although the grand plan never materialized, the U.S. military established a research base on a 2,000-meter-high glacier. Over 200 personnel lived and worked there, carving out 21 interconnected tunnels stretching 3,000 meters. The base was a self-contained underground town, complete with living quarters, a store, a church, and facilities for melting glacial water for drinking and other uses.

Camp Century was abandoned in 1967, and over the decades, layers of ice and snow accumulated, completely concealing it.

A Discovery Made by Accident

The discovery was made by Chad Green, a NASA scientist, and his team while testing UAVSAR, a radar system designed to study ice sheets. The radar works by sending radio waves through the ice and measuring their return time, revealing the ice's layers and anything hidden beneath.

"We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century. We didn't know what it was at first.," explained Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Although previous radar studies hinted at the presence of structures beneath the ice, the UAVSAR system provided a more detailed view. Despite this, scientists admit that fully reconstructing the base's layout is impossible, as ice movement has altered the site over the years.

This discovery not only sheds light on a forgotten chapter of history but also demonstrates the potential of advanced radar technology. NASA plans to use UAVSAR to study similar ice conditions in Antarctica, aiming to measure ice thickness and improve predictions for sea-level rise caused by global warming.

Camp Century, once a symbol of Cold War ambition, now serves as a reminder of both humanity's ingenuity and the challenges posed by a warming planet.