A team of scientists from Trent University and Canadian Rangers discovered that the largest ice shelf in the northern hemisphere has fractured into three main pieces.

“Canadian ice shelves have undergone substantial changes in the last six years, starting with the first break-up event on the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, and the loss of the Ayles Ice Shelf,” said Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa.

Only five large ice shelves remain in Arctic Canada, covering less than a tenth of the area than they did a century ago.

During their patrol across the northern most parts of Canada over the last two weeks, the scientists visited a new 18 km-long network of cracks running from the southern edge of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf to the Arctic Ocean, the Science Daily online said.