{"id":80220,"date":"2026-01-26T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/01\/26\/us-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-reveals-islands-strategic-value\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:25:36","slug":"us-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-reveals-islands-strategic-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2026\/01\/26\/us-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-reveals-islands-strategic-value\/","title":{"rendered":"US base lost under Greenland\u2019s ice reveals island\u2019s strategic value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This article is republished from <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us\"><i>The Conversation<\/i><\/a><i> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/what-a-us-military-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-sheet-reveals-about-the-islands-real-strategic-importance-274067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/what-a-us-military-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-sheet-reveals-about-the-islands-real-strategic-importance-274067\"><i>here<\/i><\/a><i>. Military Times has edited the headline.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"clipboard-write\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/47d8f5fe-2f16-4d4f-92d5-925251391983\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the summer of 1959, a group of American soldiers began carving trenches in the Greenland ice sheet. Those trenches would become the snow-covered tunnels of Camp Century, a secret Arctic research base powered by a nuclear reactor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was located about 150 miles inland from Thule, now Pituffik, a large American military base set up in north-western <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/topics\/greenland-4062\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/topics\/greenland-4062\">Greenland<\/a> after a military agreement with Denmark during world war two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Camp Century operated for six years, during which time the scientists based there managed to drill a mile down to collect a unique set of ice cores. But by 1966, Camp Century had been abandoned, deemed too expensive and difficult to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, Donald Trump\u2019s territorial ambitions for Greenland continue to cause <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/trump-is-testing-europe-and-the-clock-is-ticking-273990\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/trump-is-testing-europe-and-the-clock-is-ticking-273990\">concern<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/trumps-annexation-of-greenland-seemed-imminent-now-its-on-much-shakier-ground-273787\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/trumps-annexation-of-greenland-seemed-imminent-now-its-on-much-shakier-ground-273787\">confusion<\/a> in Europe, particularly for Denmark and Greenlanders themselves, who insist their island is not for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the attractions of Greenland is the gleam of its <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022\">rich mineral wealth<\/a>, particularly rare earth minerals. Now that Greenland\u2019s ice sheet is melting due to global warming, will this make the mineral riches easier to get at?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/1550643487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/1550643487\">The Conversation Weekly<\/a> podcast, we talk to <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/paul-bierman-959411\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/paul-bierman-959411\">Paul Bierman<\/a>, a geologist and expert on Greenland\u2019s ice at the University of Vermont in the U.S. He explains why the history of what happened to Camp Century \u2013 and the secrets of its ice cores, misplaced for decades, but now back under the microscope \u2013 help us to understand why it\u2019s not that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Listen to the interview with Paul Bierman on <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/topics\/the-conversation-weekly-98901\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/topics\/the-conversation-weekly-98901\"><i>The Conversation Weekly<\/i><\/a><i> podcast. You can also <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us-military-has-a-long-history-in-greenland-from-mining-during-wwii-to-a-nuclear-powered-army-base-built-into-the-ice-273355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us-military-has-a-long-history-in-greenland-from-mining-during-wwii-to-a-nuclear-powered-army-base-built-into-the-ice-273355\"><i>read articles by him about the history of US involvement in Greenland<\/i><\/a><i> and the <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/greenlands-melting-ice-and-landslide-prone-fjords-make-the-oil-and-minerals-trump-is-eyeing-dangerous-to-extract-249985\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/greenlands-melting-ice-and-landslide-prone-fjords-make-the-oil-and-minerals-trump-is-eyeing-dangerous-to-extract-249985\"><i>difficulty of mining on the island<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Newsclips in this episode from <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eZ7UudCmbao&amp;list=PLdMrbgYfVl-s16D_iT2BJCJ90pWtTO1A4&amp;index=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eZ7UudCmbao&amp;list=PLdMrbgYfVl-s16D_iT2BJCJ90pWtTO1A4&amp;index=8\"><i>New York Times Podcasts<\/i><\/a><i>, the <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/live\/cjrzjqg8dlwt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/live\/cjrzjqg8dlwt\"><i>BBC<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z-ES0zPAruQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z-ES0zPAruQ\"><i>NBC News<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.captivate.fm\/the-conversation-weekly\/\" rel=\"\"><i>RSS feed<\/i><\/a><i> or find out <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131\" rel=\"\"><i>how else to listen here<\/i><\/a><i>. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/274067\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, geologist Paul Bierman explains the history of what happened to Camp Century, a secret Arctic base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":110385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":73,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[73,101,87,26,14,19],"tags":[8468],"coauthors":[7372],"class_list":["post-80220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-newsletters","category-opinion","category-veterans","tag-military-history"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KO6H2MEUXNDYXIRHUNJBZR4REY","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2026\/01\/26\/us-base-lost-under-greenlands-ice-reveals-islands-strategic-value\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US base lost under Greenland\u2019s ice reveals island\u2019s strategic value - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, geologist Paul Bierman explains the history of what happened to Camp Century, a secret Arctic base.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US base lost under Greenland\u2019s ice reveals island\u2019s strategic value\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, geologist Paul Bierman explains the history of what happened to Camp Century, a 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