"Usually the ice shelves would use the winter to recover from the previous summer. They would reform, ... but the ice shelf can't recover in the winter anymore." "We have now reached a threshold where (the environment) is too warm for these ice shelves to exist anymore," he said. "What it tells us is that the Arctic is changing." "It underscores the rapidity of the changes, how quickly things are moving along in the Arctic," Mueller said. "Its not just the ice shelves that are changing. These changes are occurring in concert with sea ice reduction and other indications of climate change." The Ellesmere ice shelves were formed some 4,500 years ago, composed of sea ice, accumulated snow and glacier ice up to 40 meters (131 feet) thick. The detached pieces broke into numerous 'ice islands' (tabular icebergs) whose fate could take many forms, said researchers. Martin Jeffries of the National Science Foundation and University of Alaska Fairbanks, and who has studied the Ellesmere ice shelves since 1982, said they could float along the northern edge of Queen Elizabeth Islands toward the Beaufort Sea or enter the Canadian Archipelago. The Canadian Ice Service is tracking the broken pieces. Related Links: Discovery News blog: Strike Slip Treehugger.com: Arctic ice melt simulation How Stuff Works: Why is Arctic ice melting 50 years too fast? |
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