HUGE CHUNK OF
ICEBERG
BREAKS FREE
IN THE ARTIC

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THE BIGGEST CHUNK
SINCE 2005!!

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July 30, 2008.  Today a huge chunk of ice, 20 sq. km (8 sq. miles), broke off from the Ward Hunt Island Ice Shelf in Canada north of Ellesmere Island which is the largest remaining ice shelf in the Artic. This was the biggest chunk to break off since 2005, but was expected after polar scientists had been observing the fracture. This large chunk of ice is floating away amidst others that randomly scatter into the ocean and cause danger to ships which unexpectedly encounter these huge floating icebergs (remember how the Titanic sunk even many years ago).

In 1906, Robert Peary, a U.S. Explorer, estimated that the Ellesmere Island Ice Shelf was around 9,000 square kilometers. Since then, it has broken down into less than 900 square kilometers.

Dr. Derek Mueller, a polar scientist and researcher at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, said that warm temperatures cause this gradual process that takes years and then results in the fracture and eventually a chunk breaks off.

Nevertheless, scientists observed that last week, an ice island formed in an area of about 66 square kilometers on the northern Canadian coast. But there is much more ice breaking down than building up. Dr. Derek Mueller states: "Those aborted attempts at re-growth suggest to me that the conditions are not right either to maintain or re-grow these ice shelves."

In fact, insipient ice shelves that have formed in the past, have now broken up and melted away during the last eight years.  And further melting is expected during the Arctic summer. Last year, 2007 set a record of at least 4.13 million sq. km (1.59 million sq. miles) that melted. It does not seem to be as much this year, but the ice is still irreversibly melting which affects the coastline and the ocean as a whole in life altering changes. Scientist conclude that it will be impossible to rebuild these ice shelves during this current warming trend.

Melting of the icebergs in the Arctic has global implications:

(1) Radiation will be absorbed by darker seawater and land where all the ice has now melted, and this will also contribute to the warming trend of the Earth's climate at an increasingly faster rate.

(2) The ice reflects the energy from the sun into space which had been cooling the Earth. The melting of such a massive reflector will contribute to the global warming.

I believe that we should start building an artificial reflector realizing that nothing is happening to stop this melting.  In addition, we should do whatever we can to protect the environment in all respects.

Thus, the ice breaks down, but like Humpty Dumpty, will not be put together again until the next Ice Age.  These are changes that drastically affect the climate of future generations even more so than our own.

If we are causing it, or even if we are not, the Manifest Destiny of Humankind is to care for all living things and to protect the environment.  Never say you have no purpose in life.  This is a big job, and all of us must participate or all of us will fall down together.  Life as we know it, is about to change.  We can make it change into a better quality life, or do nothing, and disorder will prevail as a default function of Chaos.  Where are your priorities?

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For more information:
CBC.com News in Canada
Dr. Derek Mueller, Trent University
Peterborough, Ontario

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