During a NASA expedition to map the base of the ice sheet in Greenland, it was discovered by chance Camp Centurya secret US nuclear military base dating back to Cold Warburied in the ice over 200 km from the coast and approximately 30 meters deep. The base was built in 1959 in northwestern Greenland to support a secret project to launch nuclear missiles from the Arctic, only to be abandoned in 1967 when the idea was shelved. Today, buried beneath Greenland’s vast and desolate ice sheet, the base hosts toxic waste and, presumably, radioactive substances which, with the progressive melting of the glaciers, could become one in the future serious threat to the environment and the surrounding ocean.
The mission to Greenland and the discovery of Camp Century
The discovery dates back toApril 2024. The engineering team of NASA was flying over the glaciers of Greenland aboard the Gulfstream IIIan aircraft that has been supporting the aerial science program of the US aerospace research center for years now. The Greenland expedition had the objective of locate and map the base of the ice sheet through the use of advanced radar technologies.
For the occasion, the aircraft was equipped with radar UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar), mounted under the fuselage. The UAVSAR is a device synthetic aperture radar measurement designed to be operated on unmanned aerial vehiclescapable of collecting fundamental data on earth deformations. By flying over the same area multiple times, the radar can detect deformations in terrain features. To date, it has mainly been used to study the effects of climate change in the Arctic and to analyze modifications induced by seismic events e volcanic of great scope.
The mission to Greenland was one of several technical flights aimed at calibrating and optimizing the performance of the UAVSAR. No one would have ever imagined that radar would detect one secret military base. “Our goal was to calibrate, validate and understand the capabilities and limitations of UAVSAR in mapping the internal layers of the ice sheet and the ice-floor interface” he declared Alex GardnerNASA research team scientist. “We were looking for the base of the ice cap, and suddenly it popped up Camp Century.”
The radar signal was detected at approx 241 km east of Pituffik Air Force Base, in northern Greenland. A photo (here inserted in the cover image) taken from the window of the Gulfstream III shows the desolate and icy surface of the ice cap, under which the secret military base is hidden.
The history of the secret military base
Camp Century It’s a secret military base Americandating back to the era of Cold WarToday buried about 30 meters deep under the ice of Greenland. Designed in 1959 as a top-secret site to test the feasibility of the deployment of nuclear missiles from the Arcticthe base housed between 85 and 200 soldiers during its operation and was powered by a small nuclear reactor. The initial project involved the creation of a 4 km long tunnel systemintended to contain more 600 nuclear missiles. However, the project was abandoned and the base came decommissioned in 1967.
Upon decommissioning, Camp Century’s infrastructure and waste were left in place, with the idea that they would remain buried forever under perpetual snowfall. However, recent studies have revealed that the site is now an accumulation of hazardous waste, including over 200,000 liters of dieselwastewater, toxic chemicals and an unknown amount of radioactive materials. The main risk is represented by accelerated melting of ice caused by climate change, which could expose the base and its waste, resulting in contamination of the surrounding ecosystems and the ocean. According to a study published in 2016 in the international magazine Geophysical Research LettersIn the worst case scenario, this could already happen by 2090.
The presence of Camp Century underground in Greenland was not entirely unknown. Surveys carried out with conventional radar during the previous two decades had already identified the military base. In radar images, however, it appeared as aanomaly between the deformed layers of icemaking a clear interpretation difficult. Thanks to the new images produced byUAVSAR, the structures of thesecret city” are visible like never before.
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