Giant ice sheets of about 20 square kilometer size in aggregate broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, one of the northern most area of Canadian Arctic, last week.
Temperatures in large parts of Arctic have risen much faster than the rise in global average over the past few decades and the cause is being attributed to Global warming by the scientists
Scientists have already identified deep cracks in the Ward Hunt shelf measuring about 400 square kilometer. They are therefore apprehending more break off from the shelf this summer before the winter sets in.
In a similar break off, the giant Ellesmere Island, (near the present break off site), which was a single enormous ice shelf totaling around 9000 square kilometer in area, is now reduced to a mere 1000 sq km and that too in five small shelves.
Canadian Ice Service spokesperson Ms Trudy Wohlleben told Reuters, “The break-off is consistent with other changes we’ve seen in the area, such as the reduction in the amount of (floating) sea ice”.