Canada is melting
Satellite image of the northern segment of Ellesmere Island
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Wednesday, 30, Jul 2008 05:31
A chunk of ice more than seven square miles has broken off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic, according to scientists.
The ice broke free from the Ward Hunt ice shelf, a small area off the larger Ellesmere Island.
Scientists have warned that further splitting could occur later this year.
Derek Mueller, a researcher at Trent University, told the Associated Press that global warming is not necessarily to blame and said the event was consistent with the theory that the current Arctic climate is not rebuilding ice sheets.
"We're in a different climate now," he told the news agency. "It's not conducive to regrowing them. It's a one-way process."
The piece of ice that broke away is thought to be the largest since the Ayles ice shelf broke loose in 2005.
Elllesmere Island was once surrounded by a single ice shelf that covered about 3,500 square miles.
This has now become a series of much smaller shelves, of which Ward Hunt ice shelf is the largest.