by Moira Warburton, The Huffington Post
Highlights
- The Milne Ice Shelf, located on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, has collapsed, resulting in the loss of over 40% of the glaciers total area
- The area loss is more than the island of Manhattan
- Arctic amplification, high air temperatures, offshore winds, and open water in front of the ice shelf are to blame
- Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa, says that summer in the Canadian arctic has been 5 degrees Celcius warmer over the 30-year average
- The collapse of the shelf resulted in the loss of the northern hemisphere’s last known epishelf lake and took down a research camp that was empty before the collapse
- Two other ice caps on Ellesmere Island are also diminishing and are likely to disappear within 10 years
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Nina Turner
Energy Programs and Communications CoordinatorJanina is a graduate of the Energy Management and Design program at Sonoma State University with experience in non-profits that specialize in sustainability and volunteerism.
