Largest ice shelf in the Arctic until it broke into smaller fragments in the 20th century
The Ellesmere Ice Shelf was the largest ice shelf in the Arctic, encompassing about 9,100 square kilometres (3,500 square miles) of the north coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada.[1] The ice shelf was first documented by the British Arctic Expedition of 1875–76, in which Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich's party went from Cape Sheridan to Cape Alert.[2] The continuous mass of the Ellesmere Ice Shelf had been in place for at least 3,000 years.[1]
During the twentieth century, the Ellesmere Ice Shelf broke up into six separate shelves. From west to east, these were the Serson Ice Shelf, Petersen Ice Shelf, Milne Ice Shelf, Ayles Ice Shelf, Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, and Markham Ice Shelf.[3] The smaller pieces continued to disintegrate.
In April 2000, satellite images revealed that a large crack in the Ward Hunt shelf had begun to form, and in 2003 it was announced that the ice sheet had split completely in two in 2002, releasing a huge pool of freshwater from the largest epishelf lake in the Northern Hemisphere, located in Disraeli Fjord.[4] In April 2008, scientists discovered that the shelf fractured into dozens of deep, multi-faceted cracks.[5]
On August 13, 2005, The Ayles Ice Shelf, which was located approximately 800 km (500 mi) south of the North Pole, broke away from the coast forming the giant Ayles Ice Island 37 metres (121 ft) thick and measuring around 14 by 5 km (8.7 by 3.1 mi) in size with an area of approximately 66 km2 (25 sq mi) or 2.6 km3 (0.62 cu mi) in volume.[1]
The Milne Ice Shelf was the second largest segment of the former Ellesmere Ice Shelf. It suffered a 40% disintegration in July 2020 with the loss of a research camp, including instruments for measuring water flow.[6]
^ abcLjunggren, David (July 29, 2008). "Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf". Reuters. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2008. Mueller initially estimated that 1.5 square miles of ice had broken off the shelf but increased that figure to eight square miles after studying the data more closely. "Whatever has kept this ice shelf in balance for 3,000 years is no longer keeping it in balance," he told Reuters, saying he too would not be surprised to see more ice breaking away from the Ward Hunt shelf this year.
^Jeffries, Martin O. (March 1986). "Ice Island Calvings and Ice Shelf Changes, Milne Ice Shelf and Ayles Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T." (PDF). Arctic. 39 (1). doi:10.14430/arctic2039. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
^Paulson, Hannah (August 7, 2020). "Collapsed Arctic ice shelf adds 'exclamation point' to dire climate trends, say scientists". CBC. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
^NASA Earth Observatory (January 20, 2004). "Breakup of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf".
^Weber, Bob (April 12, 2008). "Cracks in Arctic ice shelf signal its demise". The Star. Toronto: The Canadian Press. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
^"Canada's last fully intact Arctic ice shelf collapses". Reuters. August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
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days 2006: North Pole, skied from Ellesmere Island to the pole in 49 days 2009: Greenland, crossed the inland ice west to east – 590 km 2010: Crossed...
sea ice decline Arctic sea ice ecology and history Beaufort Gyre Beringia Climate of the Nordic countries East Greenland Current EllesmereIceShelf European...
A Canadian scientific expedition, based out of Alert on Ellesmere Island, established an ice camp on 22 March 1979. The camp, with two other smaller camps...
in the Arctic Ocean, located off the north coast of Ellesmere Island near the Ward Hunt IceShelf. The island is located just 750 km (470 mi) from the...
contain approximately 14% of the global glacier and ice cap area (excluding the inland and shelfice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica). The southern islands...
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observations. Drifting buoys have exposed a southward drift of sea ice toward Ellesmere Island and Nares Strait. It has been concluded that shear in the...
arise, where the ice piles up to form pack ice. Icebergs occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island, and icebergs are formed from glaciers...
Robert Peary. Hattersley-Smith, Geoffrey (1957). "The rolls on the Ellesmereiceshelf" (PDF). Calgary: Arctic Institute of North America. p. 33. OCLC 36586486...
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August 13, 2005, the Ayles IceShelf broke free from the north coast of Ellesmere Island. The 66 km2 (25 sq mi) iceshelf drifted into the Arctic Ocean...
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waters and sea bottom that is not confirmed to be extended continental shelf beyond the exclusive economic zones are considered to be the "heritage of...
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