USU Lab's Groundbreaking Research on Greenland Ice Sheet Featured in New Documentary

A new documentary titled 'The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice' is bringing to light the critical contributions of Utah State University's (USU) Luminescence Lab to understanding the ancient history and future vulnerability of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The film, directed by former evolutionary biologist Kathy Kasic, explores surprising discoveries from sediment samples retrieved from the Cold War-era Camp Century, a secret U.S. military base once buried beneath the ice.

Unearthing Cold War Secrets Beneath the Ice

Camp Century, often referred to as 'the city under the ice,' was established in 1959 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in northwestern Greenland. Officially presented as a scientific outpost, its covert mission, known as Project Iceworm, aimed to test the feasibility of housing nuclear missiles beneath the ice sheet. The base operated until 1967, consisting of 21 tunnels and powered by a nuclear reactor. However, unstable ice conditions ultimately led to its abandonment.

During its operation, scientists and engineers at Camp Century drilled the first-ever ice core through the entire thickness of the ice sheet, retrieving a 1.3-kilometer-long record. At the bottom of this core, they found intriguing sediment containing traces of plant and insect remains, hinting at a time when Greenland was not covered by ice. These samples were then stored and largely forgotten for decades, moving from the University of Buffalo to the University of Copenhagen.

USU's Luminescence Lab Deciphers Ancient Clues

The modern scientific breakthrough came when a scientist rediscovered these long-lost sediment samples in 2019. Dr. Tammy Rittenour, a geosciences professor and director of the USU Luminescence Lab, was invited to analyze these rare specimens. Her lab specializes in optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, a technique that determines when sand grains were last exposed to sunlight. This method was crucial because earlier technologies could not accurately date the sediment itself.

Through meticulous analysis, Dr. Rittenour and her team, including graduate students like Hawke Woznick and Brooklyn Dib, made a startling discovery. Their OSL dating revealed that the sediment from Camp Century was last exposed to sunlight approximately 400,000 to 416,000 years ago. This indicates that the region was ice-free during an interglacial period known as Marine Isotope Stage 11, between 424,000 and 374,000 years ago.

A Greener Greenland and Dire Future Implications

The findings from the Camp Century sediment challenge the long-held assumption that the Greenland Ice Sheet has remained largely stable for the past 2.5 million years. The presence of fossilized plants, seeds, and insects suggests a 'greener Greenland' with freshwater streams and vegetation, indicating that the ice sheet completely melted at that time.

This past melting event caused global sea levels to rise by at least 5 feet, with some models suggesting a potential rise of up to 20 feet. The documentary and the research underscore the ice sheet's sensitivity to climate change. Alarmingly, current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 1.5 times higher than during that ancient interglacial period, raising significant concerns about the stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the face of modern warming.

Furthermore, the abandoned Camp Century contains hazardous waste, including radioactive and biological materials, which were left behind under the assumption they would remain safely frozen for millennia. The accelerated melting of the ice sheet due to climate change now poses a risk of exposing these buried contaminants.

The documentary 'The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice,' which began streaming on November 10, 2025, on platforms like Amazon Prime, iTunes, and YouTube, serves as a powerful reminder that understanding Earth's past is crucial for predicting and addressing the challenges of our climate future.