Giant Ice Shelf Breaks Free in Arctic; Climate Change Cited as Major
Factor
By Rob Gillies
Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; Page A18
TORONTO, Dec. 29 -- A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island
south of the North Pole, scientists have said, citing climate change
as a "major" reason for the event.
The Ayles Ice Shelf -- all 41 square miles of it -- broke clear 16
months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south
of the North Pole in the Canadian Arctic.


This NASA satellite image shows the Ayles Ice Shelf breaking apart on
Aug. 13, 2005. Scientists have determined that within an hour of
separating from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, the 41-
square-mile shelf formed as a new ice island. (Nasa Via Associated
Press)

Scientists said Thursday that they had discovered the event by using
satellite imagery. Within one hour of breaking free, the shelf had
formed as a new ice island, leaving a trail of icy boulders floating
in its wake.
Warwick Vincent of Laval University in Quebec City, who studies
Arctic conditions, said he traveled to the newly formed ice island
and couldn't believe what he saw.
"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing
remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for
many thousands of years," Vincent said. "We are crossing climate
thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead."
The ice shelf was one of six major shelves remaining in Canada's
Arctic. Packed with ice that is more than 3,000 years old, they float
on the sea but are connected to land.
Some scientists say that the shelf's collapse is the largest event of
its kind in Canada in 30 years and that climate change was a major
factor.
"It is consistent with climate change," Vincent said, adding that the
remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were
first discovered in 1906. "We aren't able to connect all of the
dots . . . but unusually warm temperatures definitely played a major
role."
Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice
Service, was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she noticed
that the shelf had split and separated. Weir notified Luke Copland,
head of the new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa, who
initiated an effort to find out what happened.
Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as seismic data --
the event registered on earthquake monitors 155 miles away -- Copland
discovered that the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of
Aug. 13, 2005.
Copland said the speed with which climate change has affected the ice
shelves has surprised scientists.
"Even 10 years ago, scientists assumed that when global warming
changes occur that it would happen gradually, so that perhaps we
expected these ice shelves just to melt away quite slowly," he said.