This NASA satellite image shows the Ayles Ice Shelf collapse, center and below the open water, on Aug. 13, 2005. Within days of breaking free and becoming an island, Ayles drifted about 30 miles before freezing into the sea ice seen here along top of photo.
relative location of Ayles Ice Shelf
It was reported by The Week magazine that a shelf of ice the size of Manhattan has broken away from its base on the northern coast of Canada (near the North Pole). The Ayles Ice Shelf, which measures approximately 9 miles long by 100 feet thick, is drifting toward the oil operations structures in the Beaufort Sea. This situation is believed to be caused by global warming (the greenhouse effect) attributed to the burning of fossil fuels. Right now the massive sheet is frozen in place by seasonal ice, but come summer, it is expected to begin drifting again and could become a hazard to the very shipping stations and oil rigs that help produce fossil fuels!
Isn’t that ironic?
Quantum Leaps 