An Iceberg As Big As Manhattan by David Shukman

Author:David Shukman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile
Published: 2011-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

The Martin Bell mumble: the war correspondent famously prepared his words by pacing and muttering to himself. I try the same technique on this ice island near the North Pole – until Duncan Stone gets bored. Mark Georgiou

Sunglasses are a bit like headgear – convention dictates that if a reporter is filmed wearing anything unusual on their heads it’s an issue, either because the team think you look funny or because the newsroom will or because viewers will be so surprised or amused that they won’t listen to anything you say. I’m not exaggerating: between them, the black woollen hat and lopsided red safety helmet I wore in Antarctica attracted more comment than almost anything else. Safety helmets have become a bit more accepted – so many factories and construction sites now demand them. But safety goggles are borderline. And hairnets, of the sort required in some laboratories, are a guaranteed source of hilarity. Especially if they’re a lurid baby blue. Luckily, I don’t need any headgear here because although it’s minus 18 degrees Celsius there’s no wind and I’m warm enough in jeans. But we all agree, reluctantly, that the shades have to stay.

As we start work, the co-pilot stands ready with a shotgun, embarrassed when Duncan moves in for a close-up – people will think I’m a redneck, he protests. But under Canadian law, anyone working in the open in the Arctic must have an armed guard in case of polar bears. A few years before, on a trip to Hudson Bay, I’d seen the extraordinary speed of the bears and the lethal power of their paws, how one of these cuddly icons of Arctic wildlife had torn apart a wooden shed. So I’m glad we’ve got the gun, though the idea of it being used is a nightmare: think of the gleeful publicity if, to keep a BBC crew safe, one of these much-loved but endangered animals was shot dead.

While we’re getting our first footage, Luke and Derek are preparing their equipment. Using a small radar device, they start a series of measurements to gauge the thickness of the island, the radar beam invisibly penetrating the ice.

The first readings come through.

How thick is it?

Forty metres, Luke announces, picture something like a ten-storey building.

I try, but it’s not easy. To understand the scale of the ice I have to imagine being in a lift in a modest office building, descending ten floors and, at the bottom, reaching the waters of the Arctic Ocean. And all the time this great natural structure is drifting, water reaching into the myriad cracks and gradually prising it all apart. It’s not the moon but it’s alien all the same: walking on what was a named part of Canada, now edging its way from the land, an island larger than quite a few countries, destined to melt.

Has it broken off because of global warming?

I ask because it’s the obvious question.

Can’t say for certain, Luke replies. But there’s a pattern here: the sea ice

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.