Holy cracking ice sheets! Canada is breaking up! - July 31, 2008
Two huge chunks of ice, covering 7 square miles (18 square kilometres), have snapped off Canada’s northern quarters. The break up, at the Ward Hunt ice shelf off Ellesmere Island, is the biggest break-up of ice in the region in three years.
Scientists involved are being coy about using the GW words, instead saying that now our climate is different, there ain’t no way the ice is going to rebuild itself every year. Elsewhere, other scientists are saying that it’s definitely climate change, and it’s happening fast.
The news has travelled far, although some reports, probably originating from the short AP report, only mention one, rather than two chunks.
Arctic Explorer Will Steger also waded in (Market Watch) saying that he’s not seen anything like this in all his born days, and that “long-term thaw of Arctic ice has begun”.
Picture credit Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Comments
I concur with what Katherine says but there is all this panic about global warming which in the short term we can do nothing about.
Earth has many cycles of climate change this could be one of those,and in the short term we will have to adjust to the changes it brings about. Then again we are a very clever species.
Posted by: David Stalker | August 1, 2008 04:46 AM
Will Steger says that he’s not seen anything like this "in all his born days". Wikipedia informs me he was born in 1943. It also informs me that during the Cretaceous period, which spanned from 145.5 to 65.5 million years ago, a total period of 80 million years, CO2 levels were 5 times higher than today and the temperatures were, on the average, 3 degrees higher than today. That was a little before Will Steger's time.
Posted by: Richard | August 2, 2008 05:55 AM
Not sure if this is related but the ice cubes in the fridge have started to melt even though it's on the coldest setting. Could it be some sort of microwaves coming from the sun?
Posted by: Diane Martin | August 2, 2008 05:52 PM
"Not sure if this is related" - Let me assure you that has no relation to global warming or the ice sheets in Canada breaking up. Either your thermostat has gone crook or your gas has leaked out. The fact that I am freezing where I am has also no relation to the breakup of the ice sheets in Canada.
Posted by: Richard | August 4, 2008 10:13 PM