Climate change reality check.If further proof were needed that global climate change is real (see "Welcome to the Greenhouse Century," features, September/October 2000), the breakup of the largest ice shelf in the Northern Hemisphere would seem to offer it. The Canadian Ward Hunt Ice Shelf The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf in the Arctic, located on the north coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is 443 square kilometers in size, and has been in place for approximately 3,000 years as part of a continuous ice shelf that encompasses the northern (which is up to 100 feet thick and had been in place for at least 3,000 years) began to crack in 2000. Last September it broke in two, draining a trapped freshwater lake into the Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean, the smallest ocean, c.5,400,000 sq mi (13,986,000 sq km), located entirely within the Arctic Circle and occupying the region around the North Pole. . Scientists attributed the disintegration to 100 years of relentless warming, a pattern that had accelerated in recent years. Warwick E Vincent, a Laval University Laval University, at Quebec, Que., Canada; Roman Catholic, coeducational, French language; chartered 1852, an outgrowth of a seminary established 1663 by Bishop Laval. In 1876 a branch was established in Montreal, which in 1919 became independent as the Univ. biologist, told the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of times, "It is part of a long-term process, we believe. But the most recent changes are substantial and correlate with this recent increase in warming that we've seen from the 1960s to the present. It's an example where a critical threshold has been passed." Average temperatures in the Canadian Arctic have increased about four-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit every 10 years since 1967. According to the Washington Post, average July temperatures on the Shelf are now only slightly above freezing. CONTACT: National Center for Atmospheric Research The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a non-governmental U.S.-based institute whose stated mission is "exploring and understanding our atmosphere and its interactions with the Sun, the oceans, the biosphere, and human society. , (303)497-1000, www.ncar.ucar.edu. |
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