A scientist on board the Amundsen research icebreaker near the Beaufort Sea says the ice shelf that broke apart last week is another sign that the Arctic has reached a tipping point in climate change.
Two blocks that broke away from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf near the northern coast of Ellesmere Island are simply the latest loss in the Arctic’s rapidly disappearing mass of thick, ancient ice, said Gary Stern, chief scientist on board the Amundsen Coast Guard vessel.
“When I hear what happened, I am not surprised,” Stern said by satellite telephone.
“The rate we are losing ice is phenomenal. This (climate change) is real,” he said. “I think a lot of people don’t understand how fast things are changing up here.”
Stern, a University of Manitoba professor, is leading a major research project – part of the International Polar Year – examining climate change and the loss of sea ice in the Arctic.
After spending winter months navigating freely through Arctic waters that were once impassable, he pointed to the lack of new ice freezing as another indication that warming is well underway.
— full article at thestar.com
Tags: ancient ice, ice breaks, ice shelf, northern canada, ward hunt ice
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