The giant Ayles Ice Island drifting off Canada’s northern shores has broken in two – far earlier than expected. The original Manhattan-sized berg (16km by 5 km) broke off the Ayles Ice Shelf in 2005. A team which landed on the Ayles ice block in May found it to have an average thickness of 42-45m (138-148ft) – the equivalent of the height of a 10-storey building. The great mass of ice has now split apart.
In a season of record summer melting in the region, arctic sea-ice shrank to the smallest area on record this year, as measured by satellite. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center said the minimum extent of 4.13 million sq km was reached on 16 September. The figure shattered all previous satellite surveys, including the previous record low of 5.32 million sq km measured in 2005.
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