A crack in an ice shelf, known as Larsen C, in Antarctica has grown by more than six miles in the past few weeks.
The crack now measures more than 100 miles and once it completes it will form one of the largest icebergs on record.
An ice shelf is a permanent floating body of ice that connects to a land mass and only a final 12 miles of ice remains connecting the parent ice shelf to the future iceberg.
The break “will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic,” according to Project MIDAS, a British Antarctic research project that is tracking the crack, USA Today reported.
In all, the shelf will shed an area more than 1,930 square miles, scientists from Project Midas at the University of Wales said.
Drastic climate change has resulted in several ice shelves disintegrating in recent years.
Andrew Fleming, remote sensing manager at the British Antarctic Survey who also tracks the Larsen C, said the ice was being thawed both by warmer air above and by warmer waters below.
