This team of scientists and engineers are camped above an abandoned Cold War military base that’s buried 30 meters below Greenland’s ice sheet.
这支科学家和工程师团队现在驻扎的地方是一个废弃的冷战时期的军事基地,但基地现在已经深埋在格陵兰岛冰原30米深的地下了。
"That is Delta storm condition."
“这就是三角洲风暴的情况。”
They’re part of a special climate monitoring program,
他们是一个特殊气候监测项目的工作人员,
because the underground base that they’re studying could eventually thaw out and unearth thousands of tons of toxic waste.
因为他们要研究的这个地下基地可能在将来某一天解冻,暴露出数千吨有毒废料。
"On the top of the world, below the surface of the giant ice cap, a city is buried. This is the story of Camp Century."
“在世界之巅,在这些巨大的冰盖之下,掩埋着一座城。这就是‘世纪营’的故事。”
During the early years of the Cold War, the U.S. started paying close attention to Greenland.
冷战初期,美国就开始密切关注格陵兰岛了。
To protect the island from creeping Soviet influence, the US and Denmark signed the 1951 Defense of Greenland Act.
为了保护该岛不受逐渐渗透的苏联的影响,美国和丹麦于1951年签署了《格陵兰岛防卫法案》。
"Today on the island of Greenland…..
“今天,在格陵兰岛……
the United States Army has established an unprecedented nuclear powered Arctic research center."
美国陆军建立了一个前所未有的核动力北极研究中心。”
Army personnel put the latest advances in polar construction to the test,
军队人员对极地建设的最新进展进行了测试,
building several military bases out on the ice sheet...
在冰原上建立数个军事基地…
one of them was Camp Century.
其中一个就是“世纪营”。
"We finally picked this plateau, a smooth white plain of ice for as far as you could see.
“最终,我们选择了这片高原,这片目之所及,全是冰雪的广袤白色冰原。
This was the closest location to Thule our supply base, which would not be affected by summer thaw."
这里是离我们的供应基地“图勒”最近,且不会受到夏季冰雪融化影响的地方。
"Researchers were doing a lot of very fundamental glacier and climate research.
“研究人员做了很多非常基础的冰川和气候研究。
Camp Century is probably best known for being home of the first deep ice core to the Greenland ice sheet.
世纪营最大的名声是它是格陵兰冰原第一个深层冰核的所在地。
It's like nothing we have today.
那种规模的冰核跟今天的完全不是一个级别。
It was just this phenomenal marriage of technology and innovation in the 1960s."
那完全就是60年代科技与创新一场现象级的结合。
They built an entire underground city, complete with housing, kitchens, lounges, a library,
他们还在那里建了一个地下城,住房,厨房,休息室,图书馆,
scientific labs, communications center, supply rooms, a chapel, scientific labs, and even a barber shop.
科学实验室,通讯中心,供应室,小教堂,科学实验室,甚至理发店,一应俱全。
"And the whole camp, which could house up to 200 people on a year-round basis was powered by a nuclear power plant."
“整个营地全年可容纳200人,由核电站供电。”
The US Atomic Energy Commission developed small, portable nuclear power reactors that could be built in remote locations,
美国原子能委员会建立了可以在偏远地区修建的小型便携式核反应堆,
and Camp Century was the perfect proving ground.
世纪营就是一个完美的试验点。
They flew over 400 tons of equipment to Greenland to build a PM-2A reactor,
他们空运了400多吨的设备到格陵兰岛,用来修建一个PM-2A反应堆,
and they carefully transported the materials to the base, where scientists then installed it to power the polar camp.
又小心翼翼地把这些材料运到基地,之后由科学家们安装在那里为极地营地供电。
Camp Century was presented to the world as a heroic conquest of the Arctic, in man’s never ending pursuit for knowledge and scientific progress.
世纪营代表了人类在永无止境的,追求知识和科学进步的进程中,对北极的英勇征服。
"They had Walter Cronkite up there doing news hour specials back in the '60s. Everybody knew about it. It was no secret."
“上世纪60年代,他们还让沃尔特·克朗凯特到那里录了一档特别节目。这事儿大家都知道,并不是什么秘密。”
But, this scientific endeavor was actually part of a covert U.S. Army operation, codenamed Project Iceworm.
但是,这项科学探险实际上是美国陆军代号为“冰虫计划”的秘密行动的一部分。
In response to escalating Cold War tensions,
为了应对冷战不断升级的紧张局势,
the U.S. wanted to position 600 medium range missiles with nuclear warheads underneath the Greenland ice sheet.
美国希望部署600枚携带核弹头的中程导弹在格陵兰冰盖下。
All was going according to plan, until engineers noticed the ice that surrounded the base...was shifting faster than initially projected.
一切都按计划进行着,直到工程师们注意到基地周围的冰层……移动的速度比最初预计的要快。
“The people who were working at Camp Century did not have an understanding of climate change.
“在世纪营工作的人对气候变化并不了解。
They didn't have solid records, global climate models,
他们没有可靠的记录,也没有全球气候模型,
these big data sets that let you see an overview of what's happening to earth's climate.”
这些能够让我们看到地球气候变化概况的大数据集他们都没有。
The moving ice sheet started to destabilize the underground tunnels, prompting the U.S. army to aboard Project Iceworm.
移动的冰盖开始破坏地下隧道的稳定性,美国陆军这才启用了“冰虫计划”。
“When Camp Century was decommissioned,
“‘世纪营’退役后,
only the nuclear reactor was taken out for destructive testing,
只有里面的核反应堆被拿出来开展破坏性试验了,
and the rest of the camp was left in place, and they closed the doors and left.
营地其余的设备都还留在原地,他们就关上门离开了。
It was abandoned on the assumption that climate wouldn't change, and it would continue to snow at Camp Century forever.
营地被弃置的时候,美军想的是,气候不会发生变化,世纪营的雪也永远不会停。
And the perpetual snowfall would entomb all of the base infrastructure and eventually bury it.”
而持续不断的降雪会掩埋所有的基础设施,将这个基地全部埋葬。