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Milne Ice Shelf

Coordinates: 82°45′N 081°55′W / 82.750°N 81.917°W / 82.750; -81.917
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Milne Ice Shelf
Map showing the location of Milne Ice Shelf
Map showing the location of Milne Ice Shelf
TypeIce shelf
LocationEllesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
Coordinates82°45′N 081°55′W / 82.750°N 81.917°W / 82.750; -81.917
Area290 km2 (110 sq mi) (1986)
Thickness100 metres (330 ft) (1986)

The Milne Ice Shelf, a fragment of the former Ellesmere Ice Shelf, is located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is the second largest ice shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Situated on the north-west coast of Ellesmere Island, it is about 270 km (170 mi) west of Alert, Nunavut.

In 1986, the ice shelf had an area of about 290 km2 (110 sq mi), with a central thickness of 100 m (330 ft).[1] It had been the last ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic to be fully intact until July 2020, when over 40 percent of the sheet collapsed within two days, a consequence of global warming. An uninhabited research camp was lost when the shelf collapsed. It included instruments for measuring water flow through the ice shelf.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ Jeffries, Martin O. (1986). "Glaciers and the morphology and structure of Milne Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada". Arctic and Alpine Research. 18 (4). doi:10.2307/1551089. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  2. ^ Warburton, Moira (6 August 2020). "Canada's last fully intact Arctic ice shelf collapses". Reuters. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ Funes, Yessenia (11 August 2020). "These Satellite Images Show the Final Days of Canada's Last Ice Shelf". Earther. Retrieved 11 August 2020.