Canadian ice shelf lost to Arctic Ocean
Wednesday, 03 Sep 2008 11:08
The Markham ice shelf drifted into the Arctic Ocean at the beginning of August
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A 50km square ice shelf has broken off from the Canada's Ellesmere Island, scientists have revealed in the latest warning over rising global temperatures.
The Markham ice shelf drifted into the Arctic Ocean at the beginning of August, a Canadian-led team of scientists said.
Markham, one of five remaining Canadian ice shelves, was once part of a continuous ice shelf on Ellesmere – 800km south of the North Police - that was up to 70m thick and spread 500km along the coast.
But over the last 100 years up to 90 per cent of the shelf has disappeared and initially broke into six separate, smaller parts.
"These substantial calving events [ice breaking off] underscore the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic," Derek Muller, a northern and polar studies expert from Ontario's Trent University, told the Canwest news agency.
"These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present."
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec, added: "The changes [in temperature are] massive and disturbing."