Large Piece Of Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Away

Scientists and climatologists initially predicted that the effects of global warming were not going to seriously cause problems for the planet until about the year 2030. More recently they revised that prediction and now say it may be as early as 2012. Perhaps they will need to revise that date even further with the latest developments in the Arctic. In early August of this year a huge chunk of ice about the size of manhattan island broke off from a section of the Arctic ice sheet known as the Markham Ice Shelf in the northern Arctic Ocean. That particular piece of the ice shelf is estimated by scientists to have been intact for about 4500 years. The 19 square mile piece that has broken off is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.