(CNN) A 44-square-mile chunk of ice, about twice the size of Manhattan, has broken off the Arctic's largest remaining ice shelf in northeast Greenland in the last two years, leaving scientists fearful over its rapid disintegration. The territory's ice sheet is the second biggest in the world behind Antarctica's, and its annual melt contributes more than a millimeter rise to sea levels every year. "We should be very concerned about what appears to be progressive disintegration at the Arctic's largest remaining ice shelf, because upstream ... is the only major Greenland ice sheet ice stream," said Jason Box from The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) in a statement on Monday. "The [recent] ice that has broken off is just under ... twice the size of Manhattan. [The disintegration] has really picked up these last couple of years."

Source: CNN September 14, 2020 15:56 UTC