Scientists say a vast iceberg has broken off from a key floating ice shelf in Antarctica.
Scientists at the University of Swansea in Britain said Wednesday the iceberg broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg, which is likely to be named A68, is described weighing 1.12 trillion tons - or having twice the volume of Lake Erie.
The process, known as calving, occurred in the last few days. Researchers are watching closely to see whether climate change is affecting the phenomenon.
Adrian Luckman of Swansea University says the event has been anticipated for months and that researchers will continue to monitor "the fate of this huge iceberg."
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"The rift was barely visible in these data in recent weeks, but the signature is so clear now that it must have opened considerably along its whole length," Luckman said.
Experts will continue to monitor the iceberg, as winds and currents could move it northward, eventually putting it in the way of shipping routes, according to BBC News.
It was a natural event that wasn't caused by man-made climate change, said Swansea glaciologist Martin O'Leary.
Nonetheless, "this puts the ice shelf in a very vulnerable position," he said in a statement.
Scientists said the latest iceberg break won't affect sea levels in the short term.
Scientists from the U.K.-based Antarctic project, MIDAS, have been monitoring the rift in Larsen C for years, following earlier research on the collapse of the Larsen A shelf in 1995 and the breakup of the Larsen B shelf in 2002.
The project, which is investigating the effects of a warming climate through a combination of fieldwork, satellite observation and computer simulation, describes the iceberg as one of the largest ever recorded.
They researchers suggest the iceberg is likely to break into fragments and say that while some of the ice may stay nearby for decades, parts of it may drift north into warmer waters. But researchers say much more study needs to be done to determine the cause.
"At this point it would be premature to say that this was caused by global warming," said Anna Hogg of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds.
Information from the Associated Press, ABC News and BBC News was used in this report.
