Canada loses ancient ice shelf

[McDanger]

Scientists reported in July that two large sections of ice detached itself from Ward Hunt ice shelf, the largest of the Ellesmere shelves.

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing melt-water, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface but are connected to land.

Ellesmere Island was once entirely ringed by a single enormous ice shelf that broke up in the early 1900s.

All that is left today are the four much smaller shelves.

Ecosystems 'face extinction'

During the last century when ice shelves would break off, thick sea ice would eventually form in their place.

What caused the warming in the early 1900's? Must have been all them SUV's.
So, according to this article, thin ice breaks off and floats away and is then replaced by thick ice. How would global warming cause this?

McDanger Reviewed by McDanger on 09-05-2008. Canada loses ancient ice shelf Canada loses ancient ice shelf Canada's ice shelves lost a quarter of their area over the summer A huge expanse of ancient ice shelf in Canada's northern Arctic has broken away in a dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists have said. The 50km, 4,500-year-old Markham ice shelf separated in early August and is now adrift in the Artic Ocean, Derek Mueller, an Arctic specialist at Trent University in Ontario, said. Researchers say warm Rating: 5