Canada's Arctic Ice Shelves Are Breaking Up Fast

by Robert Wilkinson

This Summer's ice melt clearly indicates things are accelerating a lot faster than even 3 years ago!

This report is NOT "more of the same." Courtesy of MSNBC, we read that the melting going on here is that of old ice shelves, meaning that "their rapid loss underscores the severity of the warming trend scientists see now relative to past fluctuations such as the Medieval Warm Period." This is changing Canada's coastlines, and as these protective ice shelves melt, we shall see further rising of ocean levels globally.

A few choice pieces from the story that was compiled by msnbc.com staff and news service reports:

Canada in just six years has lost nearly 50 percent of the massive ice shelf area that holds back glacial ice from melting into the ocean, scientists report.

Two of Canada's biggest ice shelves diminished significantly this summer, one nearly disappearing altogether. The two are among six that make up Canada's biggest shelves, all located on Ellesmere Island.

... the Serson Ice Shelf shrank from 79 square miles to two remnant sections three years ago, and was further diminished this past summer.... (shrinking) from a 16-square-mile floating glacier tongue to 10 square miles, and the second section from 13 square miles to 2 square miles.

In addition, Ward Hunt Ice Shelf's central area disintegrated into drifting ice masses last summer, leaving two separate ice shelves measuring 88 and 29 square miles respectively, reduced from 132 square miles the previous year.... Copland said those two losses are significant, especially since the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has always been the biggest, the farthest north and the one scientists thought might have been the most stable.... "Since the end of July, pieces equaling one and a half times the size of Manhattan Island have broken off," Copland said in a statement...

"Recent (ice shelf) loss has been very rapid, and goes hand-in-hand with the rapid sea ice decline we have seen in this decade and the increasing warmth and extensive melt in the Arctic regions," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado... Scambos said the loss of the Arctic shelves is significant because they are old and their rapid loss underscores the severity of the warming trend...

Ice shelves are much thicker than sea ice, which is typically less than a few feet thick and survives up to several years.

Canada has the most extensive ice shelves in the Arctic along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. They thickened over time via snow and sea ice accumulation, along with glacier inflow in certain places.

The northern coast of Ellesmere Island contains the last remaining ice shelves in Canada, with an estimated area of 217 square miles, said Mueller, down from 402 square miles six years ago.

Between 1906 and 1982, there has been a 90 percent reduction in the areal extent of ice shelves along the entire coastline.... the loss is an indication of another threshold being passed, as well as the likely acceleration of buttressed glaciers able to flow faster into the ocean, which accelerates their contribution to global sea level.

These are important findings, since icebergs are calving at record rates, and coastal Canada's environment is going through irrevocable changes. The acceleration of ice melt is now an established fact, with implications for humans everywhere as we learn to adjust to a transformed environment.

Just another indicator of how fast our Earth is changing, and of course we can expect more of the same in the coming years. I suggest studying up on how you can best adapt to the future of a fairly rapid rise in ocean levels and the expectable upheavals that will result across all dimensions of human existence.

Many will get through these changes in fine shape, but will still be living on a vastly transformed world. The future is now, so learn all you can, adapt the best you can, and stay centered in your Highest Self, since that alone is beyond the coming changes. Only Eternal Consciousness is real - all else is transitory.

© Copyright 2011 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Valerie]

With new icebergs the size of Manhattan Island roaming the sea, how can we consider building more oil wells in their path?

[Isabel Nobre]

Robert,

Excellent advice.
We must be AWARE of what is already happening, but focused on our essence as Souls - the only reality that no physical water will drown!

Thank you for sharing your Wisdom.

Isabel

[Micheline]

Robert, thanks for this article. I guess living in Japan might not be good unless I move up higher to the mountains. Though I am not sure what level we are with the ocean here. I do live in Tokyo and that is far away from the Ocean. I do have friends though here who live a lot closer to the coast and the beaches. Apparently, Edgar Cayce intuited a whole bunch of Earth Changes.
Some of what he said was rather scary. I am not sure if he can be completely right but apparently he was hardly ever wrong. I want to leave away from fear cause fear is poisonous and sad. Every year I go to the beach here I notice the beach shore getting closer and closer then the year before. Pretty soon, those beaches are going to disappear I guess. I am worried what will people do who have built so close to the beach really. The property in Japan is enormously expensive but what happens when it becomes useless. People do not buy pieces of the sea. It is not for sale. I hope it never becomes for sale. The earth should not be for sale also. As far as I am concerned. Thanks for this article.

[Micheline]

I thought you might all find this interesting but also rather sad.

I pray for the people of Tunvalo.

http://www.thesinkingoftuvalu.com/

[Beth in SoCal]

For you Robert....Before the Deluge by Jackson Browne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhQM41vBKvs