Climate on the rocks?
- 23 May 07, 02:41 PM
Why land a reporting team on a huge island of ice adrift in the Canadian High Arctic?
Partly because they can hitch a lift on a research team's plane. Also because it makes great television. But also precisely because it's a huge island of ice adrift in the Canadian High Arctic.
Ayles Ice Island spent 3,000 years attached to the Arctic mainland, but two years ago it split away. The fact that it's now floating free is taken as an indicator of the pace and extent of global warming.
David Shukman's reports from the High Arctic have been part of the Ten O'Clock News's focus on climate change and what it means for all of us. Ayles Ice Island is a spectacular symbol of those changes, and we felt it was important to tell people what's happening to it.
There's now a tracking beacon planted on the island - which happens to be the size of Manhattan and weigh two billion tonnes. We'll shout if it gets any closer.
Mark Barlex is the on demand editor of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TV News
