Video: Iceberg the size of Singapore breaks off in Antarctica
A Nasa satellite has captured the moment an iceberg the size of Singapore broke off from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Nasa has been monitoring a crack that developed in October 2011, and now, two years later, the block of ice has a broken away and started drifting out to the Southern Ocean.
The BBC reports that UK researchers have been awarded a grant to track the huge iceberg, estimated to be around 270 sq miles, as it could enter shipping lanes.
Principal investigator Grant Bigg, from the University of Sheffield, told the BBC: "It often takes a while for bergs from this area to get out of Pine Island Bay but once they do that they can either go eastwards along the coast or they can... circle out into the main part of the Southern Ocean."
If the latter occurred, it could bring the 'ice island' into busy international shipping lanes.
If the iceberg did move towards or into shipping lanes then a warning would be issued via the services of ice hazard agencies around the world.
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