UK Edition
Scientists from Swansea University say that a huge iceberg a quarter of the size of Wales is ready to float away from Antarctica.
A long existing rift in the Larsen C ice shelf suddenly grew by 18 kilometres (11 miles) in the second half of December, and now only a thread of 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) of ice is keeping a 5,000 square kilometre piece from breaking away.
Lead researcher, Swansea University's Professor Adrian Luckman, said: "I would think the end of this particular rift and this iceberg carving is imminent, within the next few months I would have thought."
Larsen C ice shelf is losing its top layer as a result of warmer air temperatures, and its bottom layer because of warmer ocean currents and circulation.
"Climate warming must be playing a part in the overall picture of ice shelf loss, it's just that this particularly large iceberg coming from Larsen C, we cannot attribute directly to climate change", Professor Luckman says.
It's the most northern major ice shelf in Antarctica and Professor Luckman says that it holds back the flow of glaciers that feed into it.
"A loss of 10 percent of the area of this ice shelf, we have shown from modelling studies, will make the remaining ice shelf more vulnerable, will make it less stable. So we might expect to see more such carving events in the future and someway down the line," he added.