[R-G] Huge sections of northern ice shelf lost in August, researchers report

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080903.ICE03//TPStory/Science

ENVIRONMENT
Huge sections of northern ice shelf lost in August, researchers report

MATTHEW CAMPBELL

September 3, 2008

Massive pieces of Canada's northern ice shelf broke away in early  
August, a team of researchers reported yesterday. The 50-square- 
kilometre Markham shelf, located on the northern coast of Ellesmere  
Island, is now floating free in the Arctic ocean along with a larger  
portion of the Serson shelf.

Meanwhile, remnants of the Ward Hunt ice shelf, which attracted  
international publicity when it collapsed in July, continue to float  
away from the Ellesmere shore.

Collapses like those this summer worry scientists since shelf ice,  
unlike more ephemeral sea ice, can be as much as 4,500 years old and  
40 metres thick.

Dr. Derek Mueller, the Roberta Bondar Fellow in Northern and Polar  
Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., said recent losses  
of shelf ice - totalling 214 square kilometres this summer in the  
Canadian north - are almost certainly the result of global warming.
Print Edition - Section Front

Section A Front  Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail

"You just can't have ice shelves in a warm climate," Dr. Mueller said.

"You can't link any one event to climate change, but we can certainly  
link patterns."

Satellite photographs show that the extent of sea ice around Ellesmere  
Island has also been significantly reduced. Where once Arctic waters  
were frozen right up to the edge of the island, there is now a  
substantial expanse of open water.

The news that large pieces of shelf ice have been lost comes just  
after Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tour of the high Arctic, where  
he has promised to expand Canada's military presence and boost natural  
resource exploration.

But Dr. Mueller said that would-be Arctic explorers should tread  
carefully, if only for their own safety.

"Until it melts," he said, "floating ice is a hazard to navigation."