A NASA researcher made a surprising discovery beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. While attempting to map the ice bed, Chad Greene unexpectedly came across a hidden US Army base known as Camp Century, dating back to the Cold War era.
Camp Century, often referred to as “the city under ice,” was constructed 65 years ago, buried 100 feet beneath the ice. The base consists of 21 underground tunnels spanning about 9,800 feet, as reported by the Express. Radar imagery captured from the Gulfstream III aircraft used by the team revealed the distinctive structures of the base.
Alex Gardner, a NASA cryospheric scientist, described the unexpected find, stating, “We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century. We didn’t know what it was at first.” The discovery was made possible using an Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR).
Established following a defense agreement between the United States and Denmark in 1951, Camp Century was intended to serve as a strategic military facility. The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History highlighted that the camp was built to support defense efforts in Greenland and the broader North Atlantic Treaty area.
Initially, engineers carved out 1,000-foot passageways, nicknamed ‘Main Street,’ in the snow and ice before constructing wooden buildings with steel roofs. The camp housed the PM-2 medium-power nuclear reactor, which powered the site.
Though scientific research was conducted at Camp Century, focusing on geological studies of Greenland’s history, it is believed that the true purpose of the base was to conceal Project Iceworm, a significant US nuclear weapon strategy. The camp was designed to house ballistic missiles under the ice.
While plans for expanding the camp to accommodate 600 missiles were proposed, Project Iceworm never materialized, leading to the decommissioning of Camp Century in 1967. The camp’s existence and its nuclear weapon ambitions were eventually disclosed in 1997 by Danish authorities.
Today, Camp Century lies abandoned, gradually being consumed by the ice. Despite the removal of the reactor, a substantial amount of nuclear waste, estimated at 47,000 gallons, remains at the site. Climate experts predict that the camp’s remnants may be fully exposed by 2090 due to the effects of climate change.