Canadians tracking Petermann Ice Island

On September 17, the Canadian Ice Service began tracking the 280-square kilometer ice island which fractured off of Petermann Glacier in western Greenland in early August, the Montreal Gazette reports. The ice floe, or more technically, the large tabular (meaning flat-topped) iceberg, split into two after ramming into Joe Island, where the Petermann Fjord meets the Nares Strait, on September 9. The Canadian Ice Service placed the monitor on the surface of PII-A, the smaller of the two halves of the ice island, which is now adrift off the coast of Ellesmere Island.

The agency remarked, “Once the ice island exits Nares Strait and drifts into Baffin Bay and into areas where shipping activities take place, it could become a hazard to maritime interests.”

You can monitor the movement of PII-A here. Currently, the ice floe is moving approximately 40 kilometers a day. As you can see, it is not far from Baffin Bay, as it is near Cape Combermere (left of center in the map, above).