Published 14:26 IST, August 8th 2020
Canada's 4,000-year-old last intact Arctic ice shelf collapses due to warming
Canada's last remaining ice shelf collapsed due to global warming and high temperatures. It is now down to two large and many small ice bergs.
Most part of Canada’s remaining intact ice shelf has been broken apart. According to reports, this is due to hot summer and global warming that Canada’s 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf is now just mere iceberg. In late July, ice analyst Adrienne White of the Canadian Ice Service noticed that satellite photos showed that 43% of the ice has been broken. She said it happened around July 30 or 31.
Global warming and its consequences
Reports suggest that after the breaking of the ice shelf, two giant icebergs along with lots of smaller icebergs have come out. However, they have started drifting away. The biggest iceberg is 21 square miles and 7 square miles long, which is almost like the size of Manhattan. They are also 230 to 260 feet thick.
Adrienne White told AP, “This is a huge, huge block of ice. “If one of these is moving toward an oil rig, there’s nothing you can really do aside from move your oil rig”. Reportedly, University of Ottawa glaciology professor Luke Copland said that the temperatures from May to early August in the region have been 9 degrees warmer than the 1980 to 2010 average. This is on top of the Arctic that is warming much faster than any part of the globe. However, this region is considered to be warming even faster.
Copland said, “Without a doubt, it’s climate change. “The Milne was very special,” he added. “It’s an amazingly pretty location. Ice shelves are hundreds to thousands of years old, thicker than long-term sea ice, but not as big and old as glaciers”. Initially, the 72-square mile white ice shelf dotted with blue meltwater used to be larger than the District of Columbia, however now it is just 41 square miles.
(Image Credits: AP)
Updated 14:26 IST, August 8th 2020