Associated Press
Thursday, July 31, 2008

EDMONTON, Alberta, July 30 -- A seven-square-mile chunk of ice has broken off a Canadian ice shelf in the Arctic, scientists said Tuesday.

Derek Mueller, a researcher at Trent University in Ontario, was careful not to blame global warming but said the event was consistent with the theory that the current Arctic climate isn't rebuilding ice sheets.

"We're in a different climate now," he said. "It's not conducive to regrowing them. It's a one-way process."

Mueller said the sheet broke away last week from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north.