The project, which included digging a network of tunnels through Greenland's ice cover and was powered by a tiny atomic reactor, was declared impractical due to the constantly shifting ice and abandoned in 1967. Although the Americans dismantled the reactor and took the atomic reaction chamber with them, leaving in 1967, they left thousands of tons of waste and debris — including radioactive residues — which would be buried under the ice cover for eternity. But this eternity can come sooner than planned.
As climate warming Camp Century, which is located in 1 of the most distant places on Earth, about 1,500 km north of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, has become a subject of renewed interest and concern about how long it will be buried. A breakthrough survey published in 2016 showed that the remains of the abandoned base could be unveiled by melting ice and snow at the end of the 21st century.
The unexpected importance of Camp Century
"Our survey underlines that Camp Century is now of unexpected political importance in the light of anthropogenic climate change," said scientists (although they later revised their findings in 2021 to exclude the emergence of a base from ice by at least 2100). These revelations sparked a political storm in Greenland, a Danish territory that has ruled itself since 1979.
Greenland's abroad Minister Vittus Qujaukitsoq demanded Denmark to take work for clearing the debris after abandoned American military installations in Greenland, which are from 20 to 30, mostly unused. Greenland, formerly the colony of Denmark, never agreed to their admission.
Nuuk and Copenhagen signed an agreement in 2017 whereby about $30 million (PLN 124 million) was spent to clean up debris and waste, but Camp Century was not included in the agreement. Greenlanders “are afraid that it will pollute the environment as the ice melts”, said Pipaluk Lynge, a associate from Greenland's largest organization and chair of the parliamentary abroad policy committee.
But it's not just Camp Century, she added, referring to another abandoned bases. “There are plenty of places where they left landfills,” Politico said. “ The United States has military waste throughout the Arctic,” she said.
US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images / Getty ImagesMen from the United States Army Polar investigation and improvement Center erecting the "T5" building in a side excavation at Camp Century, an Arctic military investigation base of the United States in Greenland, June 1959.
"It's cold, it's deep, don't decision it"
So far, “there have been no attempts” to clean up the radioactive and toxic waste of Camp Century, said William Colgan, prof. of Glaciology and Climate at the Geological survey of Denmark, who directed the survey of the ice surrounding Camp Century in 2016.
While Colgan erstwhile drilled deep into the field to test its radioactivity at the request of the Danish Ministry of Health, “in fact a conscious effort has been made not to drill into the rubble field,” Politico said. “ In fact, we do not full know the nature of what is there,” he added.
Camp Century was described as an underground town, along with a chapel, a barbershop and dormitories that erstwhile housed hundreds of people. To build it, equipment and supplies were transported by ice on sleds and tractor trailers from the close Space Base Pitufik, the northernmost American military installation in the world, which is inactive active.
In 1961, tv legend Walter Cronkite visited the military base on the American CBS broadcaster program. His program filmed digging immense Camp Century ice tunnels and showed American army engineers relaxing in their underground nuclear-powered barracks, reading and listening to records.
All this is now buried under thick layers of ice. Colgan said that he and his squad of researchers were incapable to find parts of Camp Century, specified as the fuel depot, and feared they would overrupt it. — It's cold, it's deep, don't decision it. “The glaciologist warned.
US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images / Getty ImagesMen from the Center for Polar Army investigation and improvement configuring communications in a temporary camp utilized during the construction of Camp Century, Greenland, June 1959.
Game by 2 degrees
There are different ways Camp Century can contaminate the environment. First, melting ice and snow carry toxic waste — according to Colgan, specified as 200,000 l of diesel hidden under ice — into the ocean. Another is simply a situation where ice containing parts of the base breaks off and forms an iceberg. Neither script is likely in this century. The second would most likely take thousands of years.
But the timeline shifts somewhat depending on how much the planet will warm up in the coming decades. Although there are various forecasts, the UN study published last October showed that the planet would warm up this century by 2.6 to 3.1 degrees C, with no chance of limiting the increase in temperature to the full mark of 1.5 degrees C agreed in Paris in 2015. “This game is only a fewer degrees away,” Colgan said. — Two or 3 st. C. is the difference between whether Camp Century stays under ice or steps “ He explained.
Key function of Camp Century
Camp Century itself played a key function in scientists' knowing of climate change. In the 1960s, scientists extracted the ice core, a frozen example of dirt that is inactive being tested for insight into climate patterns hundreds of thousands of years ago. The base is of large importance to science, said Colgan, who visits it all year along with many another climate researchers.
If the United States had filed claims to the island — as Trump repeated repeatedly, calling American control of Greenland a “absolute necessity” or even Threatening to usage military force — They would besides inherit the legacy of their own Cold War polluting activities. “ Camp Century is simply a microcosm of climate change,” argued Colgan. “ Modern people are trying to realize the impact of decisions taken 50 or 60 years ago on climate.
And since the United States is presently the second largest publisher of global warming emissions, Camp Century and its "changing fates" are not only a fascinating long of cold war trivia, but besides a past of climate action and today's responsibility, he added. — It's decisions made over the next decade or 2 that will lead us to those trajectorys that have centuries-old consequences. “He warned Colgan.
