A view from the Ayles Ice Island in the Arctic Ocean looking towards the mountains of northern Ellesmere Island – Photo: © Luke Copland, 2007 – Click to enlarge
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Weir later met with Luke Copland, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, who suggested the event be documented with a study and paper. Over the next 16 months, Copland (University of Ottawa), Weir (CIS) and Derek Mueller (University of Alaska Fairbanks) did post-analyses on RADARSAT, MODIS and ASTER images, and seismologic records to fully reconstruct the breakup sequence from past satellite images.
The speed of the breakup was extraordinary. They found that in less than an hour, between 1730-1830 GMT on August 13, 2005, a broad crack opened in the Ayles Ice Shelf and a massive section broke off into the sea.
Changing Arctic Temperatures
According to the International Panel on Climate Change, average Arctic temperatures increased at almost twice the global average rate in the past 100 years. Satellite data since 1978 show that summer average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk by 7.4 per cent per decade.
Canada has lost approximately 90 per cent of its ice shelves in the last hundred years. The Ayles Ice Shelf break-up event is being viewed as a sentinel to the changing Arctic environment.
Where is the Ayles Ice Island going?
With the opening of waters in June 2007, Ayles Ice Island continues to move southwest and is now about 80 km from its original location in 2005.
Only time will tell where the Ayles Ice Island will travel to next. It may end up drifting into the Queen Elizabeth Islands or it may make it all the way to the Beaufort Sea. If the ice island were to reach the Beaufort Sea, it could become a problem for shipping and oil platforms.
Eventually, over many years of travel, the ice island will shrink until all of the centuries old ice becomes part of the sea once again.
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