Global Green

Young Ambassadors of the Arctic Witness New Cracks in Fragile Ward Hunt Ice Shelf

Resolute, Nunavut – An international coalition of children visiting the high Arctic witnessed first hand the latest dramatic development of climate change on Tuesday, July 22, when a four kilometer section broke off the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. The children, assembled as The Young Ambassadors of the Arctic are part of the Global Green USA and Green Cross Pax Arctica '08 expedition.

"Our objective was to examine the state of the Ward Hunt ice shelf and to photograph the existing cracks in the hope of providing useful and current updates for off-site specialists," says Sebastian Copeland, co-leader of the expedition and Global Green USA board member. "Nothing could have prepared us for the extent of our findings. After a 3 hour hike in slushy ice, we stumbled upon a major break in the shelf. It was so large that we could not have imagined the crack to be in fact developing before our very eyes. We were essentially the first to witness this dramatic development."

"These fault lines challenge the structural integrity of the ice mass and spell its demise," added Copeland. "This was the case with the Ayles ice shelf which collapsed entirely in 2005. These developments are consistent with persistent warming trends. In a way, the fissures on the ice shelf are the fault lines of global warming".

"We were on the island for hands-on facts gathering in connection with Dr. Derek Mueller, a polar scientist at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. We were incredibly fortunate to be there as the ice shelf was calving," said Explorers Club member Luc Hardy, also co-leader of the expedition, who is sharing with Dr. Mueller videos, photographs and GPS coordinates of ice conditions and new cracks. "This new development is another threat to the Ward Hunt ice shelf, the largest, oldest and thickest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic," added Hardy.

According to Dr. Mueller, the first to report the cracking of the Ward Hunt ice shelf in 2002, what was witnessed is the consequence of gradually warming temperatures, especially in the North: "This ice shelf has become destabilized with cracks over the past 6 years and recent open water conditions to the north of the ice shelf have facilitated the latest break off. The observations made by the Pax Arctica team will help pin down exactly when the calving took place".

It took several days for the team to relay their data to Dr. Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice expert at Trent University, who confirmed the nature of their findings. "We were incredibly fortunate to be there as the ice shelf was calving," said Luc Hardy, co-leader of the expedition, who shared with Dr. Mueller the GPS coordinates and recorded images of the new cracks.

In addition to studying ice fissures, the Pax Arctica team visited sites in Iqaluit, Resolute, Devon Island, the Otto Fjord, and Radstock Bay. Their mission was to interact with local residents and scientists doing field work, and to experience the Arctic environment as the eyes and ears of their generation. The children, ages 9 to 16 and representing Germany, Italy, France, Kenya, the US and Inuit were selected to serve as "The Young Ambassadors of the Arctic" to observe the impact of climate change on the Arctic and take the message back to their communities. Their experience will be assembled into a documentary.

Pax Arctica is a multi-year mission to study and educate the public about the effects of climate change to the Arctic.  Pax Arctica is a joint effort by Global Green in the USA and Green Cross International, the environmental organization founded by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 and operating in 31 countries world-wide.

This effort was sponsored in part  by HP and the clothing brand Napapijri. You can find out more about Pax Arctica by visiting www.sagaxexpeditions.com.