Arctic ice shelf collapse poses risk

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Arctic ice shelf collapse poses risk

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Earth News: Canadian Arctic
Dec 28, 2006
An ancient ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields that broke off Ellesmere Island could be dangerous when it starts to drift in the spring, a scientist says.
The collapse of the ice island's northern coast represents the largest breakup of its kind in the Canadian Arctic in 30 years, the head of a new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa said on Thursday.
Luke Copland, an assistant professor at the school's department of geography, said scientists are surprised at the speed of the collapse of the Ayles ice shelf, about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole. It took less than an hour.
He said the new island formed by the 66-square-kilometre fragment, which could be up to 4,500 years old, could present a serious risk to oil platforms in its drift path in the spring.
At the longest and widest spans, the remains of the Ayles shelf are about 15 kilometres long and five kilometres wide. The fragment is between 30 and 40 metres thick.

Source: The Great Red Comet
 

VideoCBC Newsworld's Aaron Saltzman speaks with Derek Mueller about an ice shelf collapse in the Canadian Arctic (Runs: 3:58)
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