Remnants Of Ward Hunt Ice Shelf Have Now Split Into 3 Sections, Canadian Scientists Find - G&M

[hatrack]

EUREKA, NUNAVUT -- A Canadian military operation at the top of the world that married science and Arctic sovereignty has discovered the largest remaining ice shelf in the northern hemisphere is breaking apart at an alarming rate.

A team of scientists and Canadian Rangers witnessed dramatic deep new cracks, 18 kilometres long and 40 metres wide, on the southern edge of Ward Hunt Ice Shelf while patrolling Ellesmere Island this month by snowmobile.

They found the ice shelf, which researchers first learned had split in two six years ago, has now broken into three. An ice shelf is a massive platform of floating sea ice connected to land.

"The map of Canada is changing," Derek Mueller, a Trent University researcher, said yesterday at Eureka's weather station, which is fewer than 1,200 kilometres south of the North Pole on the western coast of Ellesmere Island. "There are only five left on Ellesmere, but almost 100 years ago the entire coastline was covered in ice shelves." Mr. Mueller, who participated in Operation Nunalivut - Inuktitut for "the land is ours" - said deteriorating ice conditions are worrisome and consistent with other indicators of climate change that have been documented in the largely uninhabited, frozen region.

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080414.SOVEREIGNTY14//TPStory/Environment

[opihimoimoi]

1. Them Bushies don't give a rats ass..."Its in Kanada for gods sake"

[XemaSab]

2. K&R for the Palouse Earthworm!

:woohoo:

[phantom power]

3. I give.

What?

[XemaSab]

4. About 6 months ago I was on my mom's computer

and there was an article in e/e on the endangered Palouse Earthworm.

I said "K&R for the Palouse Earthworm!" and it's been in the cache ever since. :P