NASA's aircraft has uncovered a secret underground nuclear missile base in Greenland (photo).

NASA scientists studying the ice sheets of Greenland have uncovered an unprecedented view of an abandoned "city beneath the ice," constructed by the U.S. military during the Cold War. This site was intended to house nuclear missiles that could be launched at the Soviet Union in the event of a war between the two nations, as reported by Space.

The researchers utilized a Gulfstream III research aircraft to examine the ice sheets of Greenland. Using radar instruments, they measured the depth of the ice sheet and the bedrock layers beneath it. The resulting images revealed the abandoned U.S. military base from the Cold War era known as Camp Century, which consists of a series of tunnels created directly within the ice sheet.

According to the scientists, their initial goal was to observe the bedrock beneath the ice sheet, and they did not immediately realize what they had discovered. NASA stated that the new radar images clearly show individual structures in the secret "city" as they have never been seen before.

The so-called "city beneath the ice" was constructed as part of a secret U.S. military project called "Iceworm" during the height of the Cold War. The project aimed to build a series of tunnels over 4,000 km long within the Greenland ice sheet, which could be used to house intercontinental nuclear ballistic missiles targeting the Soviet Union.

Construction of Camp Century began in 1959, but it was abandoned in 1967 due to high costs and issues related to preventing tunnel collapses in the constantly shifting ice cover. Ultimately, only 21 tunnels were built, spanning approximately 3 km, but no nuclear missiles were ever stationed there.

The U.S. military sought to use the northern part of Greenland to establish launch sites for nuclear missiles due to the island's proximity to the Soviet Union. The plan included creating thousands of tunnels up to 9 meters deep beneath the surface. The Americans intended to deploy Minuteman IRBM missiles at the secret base, capable of launching through the ice sheet.

Although the secret Camp Century base has long been abandoned, its remnants still serve as a reminder of the Cold War era. When the underground "city" was deserted, U.S. military personnel left behind a burial site for weapons, fuel, and pollutants. However, the melting Greenland ice sheet is gradually revealing these remains of the military base.

According to the scientists, Camp Century serves as a site to assess how the changing climate on Earth affects regions like the Greenland ice sheets. Measuring the thickness of the ice helps to understand how ice sheets respond to rapid warming and, in turn, can predict rising sea levels.