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The 'Ayles Ice Shelf' was one of six major ice shelves in Canada, all located on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The ice shelf broke off from the coast on August 13, 2005, forming a giant ice island thick and measuring around by in size (approximately 66 km² or 25.5 mi² in area or 2.6 km³ in volume). The oldest ice in the ice shelf is believed to be over 3,000 years old. The ice shelf was located at (), approximately south of the North Pole.
The Ayles Ice Shelf, like the nearby Mount Ayles, was named for the Arctic explorer Adam Ayles, who served under George Nares as the Petty Officer of HMS ''Alert'' in the British Arctic Expedition.^[1] A 1986 survey of Canadian ice shelves found that 48 square km (3.3 cubic km) of ice calved from the Milne and Ayles ice shelves between 1959 and 1974.^[2]

Contents

Ayles Ice Island

References

External links

Ayles Ice Island

On August 13, 2005, the entire shelf broke clear from the coast of Ellesmere, forming a new ice island. It is believed to be the largest shelf breakup of its kind in Canada in over 30 years.^[3] The event registered on seismometers in northern Canada, and it was verified via satellite imagery.
Within days of the breakup, the former shelf had drifted over from Ellesmere Island before freezing into the sea ice. There is concern that when the sea ice melts in the spring, warm temperatures will release the former shelf, making it a hazard for ships and oil platforms in its drift path.^[4]
The breakup was noticed by the Canadian Ice Service at the time that it occurred, but it took a further 16 months to fully reconstruct the breakup sequence from past satellite images captured by MODIS, to determine the climatic conditions during the event, and for the event to garner public attention. The event, which has been linked to global warming, is similar to the 2002 breakup of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
The speed of the breakup is also remarkable; it took less than an hour. Canada has lost approximately 90% of its ice shelves in the last hundred years.^[5]
The freed segment of the ice shelf, known as 'Ayles Ice Island', drifted southwesterly for two years, and in January 2007 accelerated into the open Arctic Ocean, causing concern for oil rig operators in the Beaufort Sea north of Prudhoe Bay. In August 2007, however, the island became wedged into the Sverdrup Inlet of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, and scientists believe it is likely to remain there, possibly permanently.^[6]

References

1. Wairarapa Times-Age newspaper article biography of Adam Ayles
2. Jeffries, Martin O. Ice Island Calvings and Ice Shelf Changes, Milne Ice Shelf and Ayles Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T.. ''Arctic'' 39 (1) (March 1986).
3. Giant ice island breaks off Arctic shelf, Guardian Unlimited
4. Arctic ice shelf collapse poses risk: expert, CBC news
5. Arctic Ice Shelf Broke Off Canadian Island, New York Times
6. Vast ice island trapped in Arctic

External links

★ 16 image slideshow of satellite and radar images showing the breakup (CBC News, requires Adobe Flash).

★ Ayles Ice Shelf breakup images and media resources by Dr. Luke Copland, University of Ottawa

★ Ayles Ice Shelf breakup background information by the Canadian Ice Service

★ Arctic ice shelf collapse poses risk: expert, CBC news, Thursday, December 28, 2006, 6:39 PM ET

★ Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada's far north by Jeffrey Jones, Reuters, 29 Dec 2006 21:22:06 GMT

★ Huge Arctic ice break discovered, BBC news, Friday, 29 December 2006, 22:52 GMT

★ Giant Ice Shelf Breaks Off in Canadian Arctic by Richard A. Lovett, National Geographic News, December 29, 2006

★ ''Ice-shelf collapse, climate change, and habitat loss in the Canadian high Arctic'' F. W. Vincent, J. A. E. Gibson & M. O. Jeffries. Polar Record 37 (201): 133-142 (2001).

★ Science team lands on Ice Island, BBC News, Tuesday 22 May 2007