A massive stretch of ice is set to break off from one of Antarctica's largest ice shelves and create the world's biggest iceberg.
The crack in the Larsen C shelf, which has grown slowly for decades, recently started to accelerate. In just six days it has grown by an astonishing 11 miles.
Scientists have been tracking the rift growing along the Larsen C shelf for years. They now say the fracture is within eight miles of the sea and that there is "nothing to stop it fracturing".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Experts are waiting to see whether the process has been affected by climate change, reports Sky News.
At around the same size of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the fragment will become one of the largest icebergs ever recorded once it breaks off.
The shelf is around 350m thick and is currently located at the edge of Western Antarctica.
Scientists at Project Midas, a UK-based research group studying the shelf, sayt there is very little time left until the fragment separates. The event has far-reaching consequences. It would change the Antarctic landscape dramatically, creating an unstable shelf.
Adrian Luckman, a Project Midas scientist, said: "We have previously shown that the new configuration will be less stable than it was prior to the rift, and that Larsen C may eventually follow the example of its neighbour Larsen B, which disintegrated in 2002 following a similar rift-induced calving event."
While the Larsen C event is believed to be the result of natural geophysical processes, scientists widely accept that climate change was a contributing factor in the disintegration of the Larsen A and Larsen B shelves in 1995 and 2002 respectively.
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
