Rapid loss of the ayles ice shelf, ellesmere island, Canada

On August 13, 2005, almost the entire Ayles Ice Shelf ( 87.1 km(2)) calved off within an hour and created a new 66.4 km(2) ice island in the Arctic Ocean. This loss of one of the six remaining Ellesmere Island ice shelves reduced their overall area by similar to 7.5%. The ice shelf was likely weakened prior to calving by a long- term negative mass balance related to an increase in mean annual temperatures over the past 50+ years. The weakened ice shelf then calved during the warmest summer on record in a period of high winds, record low sea ice conditions and the loss of a semipermanent landfast sea ice fringe. Climate reanalysis suggests that a threshold of > 200 positive degree days year(-1) is important in determining when ice shelf calving events occur on N. Ellesmere Island.