Coverage
Media have covered our team's research related to the Camp Century ice and sediment core in a variety of formats. Follow the links here to dive deeper into the City Under the Ice and the scientific studies conducted since the sub-ice core's rediscovery in 2019.
In a new book, geologist Paul Bierman recounts the moment he found astonishing evidence that Greenland’s ice sheet had melted in the ancient past.
Fossils show evidence of an ice-free Arctic, scientists say. Fossils in the Arctic reflect glacial melting that was possibly not due to human interference, research shows.
We’re creating a world where these ice sheets are going to melt.
A new study published Monday finds most of Greenland’s ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past.
A fresh analysis of a historic ice core has revealed evidence of a much smaller ice cap.
Even if the planet doesn't get any warmer than it is now, melting ice in Greenland could add at least 1.5 metres to the global average sea level and possibly as much as 5 metres.
The study published in the journal 'Science,' seems to show that the ice cap is at risk of irreversible melting over the coming centuries. (originally written in French)
Felicia Combs and Lynette Charles interview Paul Bierman about our team's findings in the Christ et al. 2021 Science paper.
New research led by the University of Vermont is unlocking the secrets of Greenland’s past. WCAX's Cat Viglienzoni speaks with Cat Collins and Halley Mastro, graduate studens at UVM's School of the Environment and Natural Resources, about theie work on the Camp Century sediment core
CNN's Michael Holmes speaks with Paul Bierman, Professor of Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, about a study of "ice cores" in Greenland - and its implications for billions of people living along the world's coastlines.
One new study, published July 21 in Science, provides a precedent, describing a massive Greenland meltdown that happened relatively recently on the geological time scale, between about 424,000 and 374,000 years ago during a warm, interglacial period known as Marine Isotope Stage 11.
The Ilulissat Ice fjord in Greenland (Veronique Durruty/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.)
A rediscovered sample of frozen sediment, collected more than 50 years ago, highlights the vulnerability of Greenland’s ice sheet to a warming climate
The margins of the Greenland ice sheet (Paul Bierman, University of Vermont)
Grönland ohne Eis? Was heute ein Horrorszenario der Klimakrise ist, war vor etwa 400.000 Jahren schon einmal Realität. Das beweist eine alte Probe – die eigentlich längst in Vergessenheit geraten war
Grönländischer Eisschild im Sommer: Der weiße Panzer schwindet (Patrick Robert / Corbis / Getty Images)
Long-lost samples of twigs and rocks show that Greenland once lost a tremendous amount of ice under climate conditions very much like the ones humans have created
Melting ice on a small Greenland tundra pond. (Josh Brown, University of Vermont)
Back in the early 1960s, the US Army conducted a secret Cold War operation beneath Greenland's frozen tundra. Now a chance rediscovery from that operation could rewrite the history of the north-west Greenland ice sheet, and our understanding of its stability.
Meltwater runs off the Greenland Ice Sheet at midnight. (Paul Bierman, University of Vermont)
Some 400,000 years ago, Greenland was, well, green, scientists say. According to a new study released Thursday, the massive island was an ice-free tundra landscape – perhaps covered by trees.
Image from USA Today, Buzz 60
A recently discovered ice core taken from beneath Greenland’s ice sheet decades ago has revealed that a large part of the country was ice-free around 400,000 years ago, when temperatures were similar to those the world is approaching now, according to a new report.
Photograph of uppermost sediment sample, Camp Century subice core. (Paul Bierman, University of Vermont)
Cette débâcle avait provoqué une élévation du niveau de la mer d’au moins 1,4 mètre, selon une étude publiée dans « Science », montrant que la calotte risque une fonte irréversible et rapide dans les prochains siècles.
Une image satellite de la NASA du glacier Petermann, dans le nord-ouest du Groenland, en 2022. (NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY)
Back in the early 1960s, the US Army conducted a secret Cold War operation beneath Greenland's frozen tundra. Now a chance rediscovery from that operation could rewrite the history of the north-west Greenland ice sheet, and our understanding of its stability.
Meltwater runs off the Greenland Ice Sheet at midnight. (Paul Bierman, University of Vermont)
Without sucking out today's CO2, even aggressive emissions cuts won't stave off centuries of rising seas and warming, authors of a new study warn
Much of Greenland’s ice sheet is two miles thick (left); open areas around the coast today (right) resemble what a far larger portion of that giant island looked like during a warm spell 400,000 years ago.
Los sedimentos recuperados en una antigua base de EE UU por un equipo científico internacional muestran que esta región estuvo descongelada durante un periodo interglaciar, que presentaba temperaturas similares a las actuales. Aquel deshielo podría haber contribuido con al menos 1,4 metros a la subida global del nivel del mar.
Greenland view over tundra (Josh Brown, University of Vermont)
An international team of scientists, including a researcher from the University of Connecticut, have determined that Greenland’s ice sheet retreated hundreds of thousands of years ago, a discovery that will help forecast what will happen to sea levels as climate change brings a new threat of melting ice.
Sea ice melting in Greenland (Paul Bierman, University of Vermont)
Where ice cores hold the key to Earth’s climate past and future. In a narrow aisle of shelves packed with cardboard boxes, Jørgen Peder Steffensen grins like a mischievous child unwrapping a holiday present as he pulls out a plastic-wrapped hunk of ice from a box marked Keep Frozen.
Jørgen Peder Steffensen, ice core curator at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.Credit Ola J. Joensen/Niels Bohr Institute
During the Cold War, a U.S. military installation called Camp Century was carved out of the ice sheet in Greenland. We are joined by Paul Bierman, a geologist and professor at the University of Vermont, who will tell us about the secretive base.
Fieldwork on skis in Greenland. Credit, Josh Brown (UVM)
Freeze-dried twigs and leaves from beneath Greenland’s ice cap provide a record of a warmer time. Interview with Andrew Christ, UVM.
Fossils from under the ice. Credit, Andrew Christ (UVM) and Dorothy Peteet (Lamont)
The Washington Post. A forgotten Cold War experiment has revealed its icy secret. It’s bad news for the planet (2021)
A forgotten Cold War experiment has revealed its icy secret. It’s bad news for the planet.
The Greenland ice sheet transitions into the Sermeq Avangnardleq glacier near Ilulissat, Greenland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Top secret Cold War project turned up plants that once thrived beneath mile-deep Greenland ice.
Scientists were stunned to find twigs, leaves and mosses among the dirt drilled up from beneath mile-thick ice in northwestern Greenland in the 1960s. Credit: Dorothy Peteet, Columbia University
Fossils in a Forgotten Ice Core Rewrite Greenland’s Icy Past. A secret Cold War project led to signs of ancient life—and a new warning about the future of the climate.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
When Greenland was green, bear back-scratching, Mars voyage emotional toll, fin whale seismic sensing, what made COVID-19 vaccines possible and gas fume shadows.
Construction of a snow trench in 1965 at the U.S. secret military base called Camp Century in Greenland (ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory)
An ice core from cold-war days reveals Greenland’s green and balmy past. The island lived up to its name one million years ago, when the ice sheet of today was missing.
An ice core (above) drilled in 1966 has revealed that the ice sheet covering Greenland melted away and was restored at least once in the last million years. Credit: ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
De nouveaux travaux suggèrent l’existence d’un point de non-retour dont on serait aujourd’hui proche, qui se situe probablement entre 1,5 °C et 2,5 °C de réchauffement.
La couche de glace au Groenland, en juin 2012. JOSHUA BROWN / UVM
Samples, lost for decades, rediscovered in Danish freezer.
The main trench at Camp Century in Greenland led to an underground military base, where scientists drilled into the ice. Credit, PICTORIAL PARADE/STAFF/GETTY IMAGES