The slow violence of waste flowing through the Greenland Ice Sheet

Military bases are major sources of environmental contamination that are often poorly documented. While there is an evident need to characterize the physical attributes, quantities, and mobility of waste produced by militaries, understanding the full impact of contamination requires a political and sociohistorical analysis. This interdisciplinary work draws specific attention to waste on the Greenland Ice Sheet caused by the construction, and later abandonment, of an extensive network of US military bases during the Cold War. Here we apply a human-ecological perspective to this topic that leverages analysis of existing datasets of the ice sheet’s physical properties (ice flow velocity and firn density modeling) while also revealing–and expanding–the historical context using archival reports. Our modeling demonstrates considerable variability in horizontal movement (23–1959 m) and burial depths (8–59 m) of abandoned military bases from their original positions on or below the ice sheet surface. Alongside these physical processes, we discuss the structural roles that law, location, and information play in burying and trapping waste in the ice sheet.

Duke Scholars

Author Jonathan Ryan Earth and Climate Sciences