Top-Secret, Cold War-Era Military Base in Greenland
Aug 12, 2016 8:59:39 GMT 10
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Post by theshee on Aug 12, 2016 8:59:39 GMT 10
It may sound like a storyline straight out of a Godzilla movie, but researchers are warning that toxic waste from a long-abandoned Cold War-era camp could leach into nearby ecosystems as a result of warming temperatures in Greenland.
It was thought that the hazardous waste would stay buried and frozen forever beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, but climate change is warming the Arctic and causing portions of the ice sheet to melt, the researchers reported in a new study.
"In the past, militaries, industry and even scientists have given little thought to the lasting impact of their activities, including dangerous waste left behind," Laurence Smith, a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of "The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future" (Dutton Adult, 2010), told Live Science in an email. "That attitude is changing but not gone, and this study shows how the activities of the past are with us still."
In 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a base, called Camp Century, in the Greenland Ice Sheet. The site was constructed under more than 26 feet (8 meters) of ice to provide protection and camouflage.
New research shows that the melting ice sheet, caused by a warming climate, could release the camp's toxic waste into the environment.
This photo shows the northeast portal to Camp Century during construction in 1959.
A view inside the main 1,300-foot-long (400 meters) access trench to Camp Century in 1964. More than 12 500-foot-long (150 meters) side trenches radiated out from the main trench.
The northeast portal to Camp Century in 1964, shortly before the base was abandoned.
A thermal coring rig that was used to take ice-core samples at Camp Century in 1964.
The Camp Century base was located 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Greenland's northwest coast.
Climate change is warming the Arctic and causing portions of the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, which could release toxic waste from Camp Century into the environment. This photo shows a meltwater stream on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
It was thought that the hazardous waste would stay buried and frozen forever beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, but climate change is warming the Arctic and causing portions of the ice sheet to melt, the researchers reported in a new study.
"In the past, militaries, industry and even scientists have given little thought to the lasting impact of their activities, including dangerous waste left behind," Laurence Smith, a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of "The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future" (Dutton Adult, 2010), told Live Science in an email. "That attitude is changing but not gone, and this study shows how the activities of the past are with us still."
In 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a base, called Camp Century, in the Greenland Ice Sheet. The site was constructed under more than 26 feet (8 meters) of ice to provide protection and camouflage.
New research shows that the melting ice sheet, caused by a warming climate, could release the camp's toxic waste into the environment.
This photo shows the northeast portal to Camp Century during construction in 1959.
A view inside the main 1,300-foot-long (400 meters) access trench to Camp Century in 1964. More than 12 500-foot-long (150 meters) side trenches radiated out from the main trench.
The northeast portal to Camp Century in 1964, shortly before the base was abandoned.
A thermal coring rig that was used to take ice-core samples at Camp Century in 1964.
The Camp Century base was located 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Greenland's northwest coast.
Climate change is warming the Arctic and causing portions of the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, which could release toxic waste from Camp Century into the environment. This photo shows a meltwater stream on the Greenland Ice Sheet.