The arch that connects Greenland and Ellesmere Island normally breaks up in June or July.
An Arctic ice arch has crumbled months earlier than expected, NASA images have revealed. The structure spanning the Nares Strait between Greenland and Ellesmere Island, was found to have disintegrated through a series of images from NASA's Earth monitoring Terra and Aqua satellites, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite.
Ice arches are natural and temporary formations. The one found in the Nares strait tends to form at the end of autumn and it prevents sea ice from entering the Arctic Ocean. Normally, it disintegrates in June or July. However the NASA images show that this year, it broke up at the end of March.NASA said the images from March 19 show long cloud streamers to the south of the arch, and that this type of cloud normally forms when there are strong winds.
"Luckily the Nares Strait isn't that large compared to the much larger Fram Strait. The overall impact [of the break up] likely won't be that large, but it's still another contributor to the loss of Arctic sea ice, which has been ongoing for quite some time."
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