Big Chunk Of Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Off
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Big Chunk Of Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Off
A chunk of ice the nearly as big as Manhattan has broken away in the northern Arctic.
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(September 3, 2008)---A chunk of the Arctic ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada.

Derek Mueller, an ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, says the Markham Ice Shelf, which is 4,500 years old, separated in early August, and that the 19-square-mile piece is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

Mueller said another ice shelf lost two large sections, and that a third one continues to break up.

Ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface, but are connected to land.

Scientists say the loss of the ice shelves means that the rare ecosystems that depend on them are threatened with extinction.
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