A huge ice shelf 10 times bigger than Manhattan has plummeted into the sea near New Zealand, US government scientists said today.
The collapse on the Ross ice shelf - in the Ross Sea near the Pacific Ocean and New Zealand - is about 41 nautical miles long and four nautical miles wide.
It was spotted by the National Ice Centre in Suitland, Maryland, which analysed infrared photos taken on May 5th by a military satellite. The collapse likely occurred over the last two weeks, a spokesman for the centre said.
The news follows the March collapse of the so-called Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica in the Weddell Sea near Chile. The shelf was the size of a small European country.
Green groups pointed to the ice shelf collapses as evidence that greenhouse gases are causing global temperatures to rise and the polar ice caps to melt.
Carbon emissions from power plants and factories have been linked to global warming, which many scientists warn could lead to massive flooding and rising ocean levels. The United States is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases.