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Ice shelf off Canada`s north breaks up
Washington, Sept 23: The largest ice shelf in the Arctic off Canada`s coast has broken up due to changing climate and could present danger to shipping and drilling platforms in the Beaufort Sea, US and Canadian scientists warned.
Washington, Sept 23: The largest ice shelf in the Arctic off Canada's coast has broken up due to changing climate and could present danger to shipping and drilling platforms in the Beaufort Sea, US and Canadian scientists warned.
The ward hunt ice shelf has been in place on the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's Nunavut territory for at least 3,000 years, according to a report published in the journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’.
The study conducted by scientists from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks said the shelf had now fragmented into two main parts and several smaller ice floes that could endanger navigation and industrial activities in the region.
It said the breakup occurred sometime between 2000 and 2002, most likely due to warning temperatures in the region.
Temperatures have been rising in the region one-tenth a one degree celsius, or one-fifth of a degree fahrenheit, each decade since 1951, the report said.
Bureau Report
The study conducted by scientists from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks said the shelf had now fragmented into two main parts and several smaller ice floes that could endanger navigation and industrial activities in the region.
It said the breakup occurred sometime between 2000 and 2002, most likely due to warning temperatures in the region.
Temperatures have been rising in the region one-tenth a one degree celsius, or one-fifth of a degree fahrenheit, each decade since 1951, the report said.
Bureau Report