GLOBAL WARMING

Iceberg the Size of Delaware Breaks Off Antarctic Ice Shelf

One of the largest ever recorded.

A massive chunk of ice the size of Delaware has broken off from the Larsen ice shelf in Antarctica and is now floating in the Weddell Sea. The giant ice formation, which was “hanging by a thread” just last month, split off between Monday and Wednesday. It is now an iceberg measuring 2,200 square miles. The Larsen ice shelf is now 12 percent smaller, the smallest it has ever been in recorded history. “The iceberg is one of the largest recorded and its future progress is difficult to predict. It may remain in one piece but is more likely to break into fragments,” said Adrian Luckman, a professor at Britain’s Swansea University. “Some of the ice may remain in the area for decades, while parts of the iceberg may drift north into warmer waters.”