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Giant Ice Shelf Snaps

Popo writes "Sattelite images have revealed that an ancient 66 square-kilometer ice shelf, the size of 11,000 football fields, has snapped off from an island in Canada's arctic. The Ayles Ice Shelf was one of 6 major shelves remaining in Canada's arctic and is estimated to be over 3000 years old. The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 km away picked up tremors. Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor."

12 of 529 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Non Global-Warming Activity by nharmon · · Score: 3, Informative

    I mean the result of, RESULT OF! Oh good lord.

  2. Re:Drinks all around! by butterwise · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, a real good margarita consists of good tequila, fresh lime juice and triple sec - not a mix.

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  3. Re:How much is that in square furlongs? by DrSkwid · · Score: 5, Informative

    58 sq km

    So a bit bigger than Bermuda (zoom out) but a bit smaller than San Marino (zoom out)

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  4. Re:How much is that in square furlongs? by Ziest · · Score: 4, Informative

    66 square kilometers == 25.5 square mile

    About half the size of San Francisco

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  5. Re:11,000 Football field by ROBOKATZ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rhode Island is 1214 square miles or 33844377600 square feet.
    A football field is 58000 square feet x 11000 = 638000000 square feet for the iceberg.
    Rhode Island is about 584524 football fields.

    So the iceberg is about 1/53rd of the size of Rhode Island.

  6. Re:Non Global-Warming Activity by Alchemar · · Score: 4, Informative

    The increase in radiation is caused by the hole in the ozone layer, but I think everything else is pretty much due to global warming.

  7. Been There Done That by sycodon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe he should have worked there longer. Follow this link.

    http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic39-1-15. pdf

    In 1984 this study was done in Canada. The first page kind of says it all.

    " Between 1959 and 1974 a total of 48sqkm calved off from Milne and Ayles ice shelves. In addition, the Ayles Ice Shelf moved about 5km out into Ayles Ford"

    Not quite 66 sqkm but close. And it sounds as if the shelf broke off rather recently within a few decades, and somehow reattached itself. No mention of that in the story, but there is a significant emphasis that the ice is 3000 years old and ancient. Making it seem as if this has been the same for 3000 years. Next at the bottom left of the first page.

    "The largest observed ice calving occurred at Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (just north of Ayles) where almost 600SQKM, broke off between 1961 and 1962.

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    1. Re:Been There Done That by xutopia · · Score: 3, Informative

      Those historical figures are for small bits or simple melting. They aren't for large blocks the size of this one popping off.

      " Between 1959 and 1974 a total of 48sqkm calved off from Milne and Ayles ice shelves. In addition, the Ayles Ice Shelf moved about 5km out into Ayles Ford"

      "The largest observed ice calving occurred at Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (just north of Ayles) where almost 600SQKM, broke off between 1961 and 1962".

  8. Re:I can't wait..... by ROMRIX · · Score: 4, Informative
    .... for the anti global warming types to downplay that CLEARLY OBVIOUS FACT that global warming is the cause.

    That is not the point, global warming is a fact, global warming is the cause of melting ice, global warming is the cause of warmer oceans. That is not what is being contested.
    What is being contested is the cause of global warming. There are two podiums here, one is for arguing the cause is man made, the other is for arguing that it is a naturally recurring event.
    The first has little evidence to support it other than (slightly) higher co2 levels in the atmosphere. The second of which has strong evidence recorded in, what else but the ice itself as well as in fossil records.
    You cannot argue that there have been global warming events in the past but you can argue that man couldn't have been the cause then.
    So I guess we are in agreement? Global warming is a CLEARLY OBVIOUS FACT.

  9. Re:Well... by naoursla · · Score: 4, Informative

    Go watch Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". He presents data gathered by scientists that use ice core samples to infer temperature and CO2 cycles over the last 650,000 years. The data as he presents it is pretty compelling. If you choose, you can then do more research on your own to determine the veracity of that data, but it will help answer many of the questions you pose.

  10. Re:How much evidence do we need? by Aardpig · · Score: 4, Informative

    How many vast Ice sheets have cracked recently?

    I believe that the Larson A and B ice sheets, in Antarctica, broke up within the past decade.

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  11. Re:Huh? by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 4, Informative
    We had global warming 30 years ago? I thought we were all supposed to fear global cooling back then.
    Go thank the press for that. Scientists didn't say that there is global cooling, the press conjured the "theory" up.
    What is the frequency of such events?
    Note, this is scientists speaking. When they say "this is the largest event of its kind in 30 years", it is NOT equivalent with saying "last time an event like this happened was 30 years ago". They are only saying, that from the events in the last 30 years, this is the largest so far. They don't say anything about what happened 32, 35 or 3500 years ago, because they might not have the data to confirm that such event like this DIDN'T happen. It is entirely possible that such event didn't happen in the last 2000 years, but then you have to verify or falsify this assumption with evidence.
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