Scientists monitoring the Larsen C Ice Shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula have released a startling new aerial video showing in stark relief just how wide a crack in the ice has become.
The crack is expected to give rise to one of the largest icebergs on record, sometime within the next few months, though the precise timing of the breakup is unclear.
The crack is up to 1,500 feet wide, which is slightly wider as New York's Empire State Building is tall.
The iceberg, as tracked by aerial observations and satellite data, that is likely to break off is about 1,930 square miles, or about the size of Delaware.
Researchers from Project MIDAS, led by Swansea University, have reported several rapid elongations of the crack in recent years. This footage was shot by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey as they flew over the Larsen C Ice Shelf to collect research equipment, according to a press release.
Icebergs calving off of glaciers and floating ice shelves are not by themselves unusual events.
However, many Antarctic ice shelves have been thinning as a result of climate change and other factors, and this particular iceberg is expected to be unusually large.
