“The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July, researchers said on Thursday.”

What size are we talking?

“Entire cities are that size. These are big pieces of ice,” said Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa who was part of the research team studying the Milne Ice Shelf.
“The shelf’s area shrank by about 80 square kilometres. By comparison, the island of Manhattan in New York covers roughly 60 square kilometres.”

If you need to get your mind off Covid-19 for a moment and think about other horrible things, here you go:

“The Arctic has been warming at twice the global rate for the last 30 years, due to a process known as Arctic amplification. But this year, temperatures in the polar region have been intense. The polar sea ice hit its lowest extent for July in 40 years. Record heat and wildfires have scorched Siberian Russia.
“Summer in the Canadian Arctic this year in particular has been 5 degrees Celsius above the 30-year average, Copland said.”

Fun times, fun times. I’ll have a big beer please.