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December 29, 2006
This Is NOT A "Natural" Warming Cycle!!
TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada's Arctic, scientists said.The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north.
Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left 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 could not 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. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," Vincent said Thursday.
In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice, he said.
The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 kilometers (155 miles) away picked up tremors from it.
The Ayles Ice Shelf, roughly 66 square kilometers (41 square miles) in area, was one of six major ice shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic.
Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...Anyone that thinks this is normal is just fooling themselves! We are seeing an unprecedented temperature shift the likes of which this planet has NEVER seen. Yes there are documented warming cycles, but nothing like this. This latest spike over the past 100 years or so is more massive than anything ever recorded throughout history! Global warming IS real and these sorts of occurrences go to show that the scientists are right and unfortunately we are going to see a lot more of these events in the very near future. I'm not sure what it takes to convince the nay sayers or how many more cataclysmic weather events it will take, but it's time to wake up and smell reality!
Found via CNN.
Posted by Dianne at December 29, 2006 9:56 AM
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Comments
Wow! That's an ice cube 2/3rds the size of DC!
Posted by: cjmr at December 29, 2006 10:32 AM