[Vision2020] It's A Liberal Environmentalist Hoax!

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16390346/

Ancient ice shelf breaks free in Arctic
Breakaway may 'signal the onset of accelerated change,' researchers say
 The Associated Press
 Updated: 10:00 a.m. PT Dec 29, 2006

TORONTO - A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of the
North Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major"
reason for the event.

The Ayles Ice Shelf — all 41 square miles of it — broke clear 16 months ago
from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the North Pole
in the Canadian Arctic.

Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hour
of breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trail
of icy boulders floating in its wake.

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled
to the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing
remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many
thousands of years," Vincent said. "We are crossing climate thresholds, and
these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead."

The ice shelf was one of six major shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic.
They are packed with ancient ice that is more than 3,000 years old. They
float on the sea but are connected to land.

*'Consistent with climate change'
*Some scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30
years and that climate change was a major element.

"It is consistent with climate change," Vincent said, adding that the
remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were first
discovered in 1906. "We aren't able to connect all of the dots ... but
unusually warm temperatures definitely played a major role."

Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice Service, was
poring over satellite images in 2005 when she noticed that the shelf had
split and separated.

Weir notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice lab at the University
of Ottawa, who initiated an effort to find out what happened.

Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as seismic data — the
event registered on earthquake monitors 155 miles away — Copland discovered
that the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005.

Copland said the speed with which climate change has effected the ice
shelves has surprised scientists.

"Even 10 years ago scientists assumed that when global warming changes occur
that it would happen gradually so that perhaps we expected these ice shelves
just to melt away quite slowly," he said.

*Shipping hazard possible*
Derek Mueller, a polar researcher with Vincent's team, said the ice shelves
get weaker and weaker as temperatures rise. He visited Ellesmere Island in
2002 and noticed that another ice shelf had cracked in half.

"We're losing our ice shelves and this a feature of the landscape that is in
danger of disappearing altogether from Canada," Mueller said.

Within days of breaking free, the Ayles Ice Shelf drifted about 30 miles
offshore before freezing into the sea ice. A spring thaw may bring another
concern: that warm temperatures will release the new ice island from its
Arctic grip, making it an enormous hazard for ships.

"Over the next few years this ice island could drift into populated shipping
routes," Weir said.
(c) 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16390346/
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 (c) 2006 MSNBC.com
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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