PARIS: A trillion-tonne iceberg, one of the largest ever recorded, has snapped off the West Antarctic ice shelf, scientists who have monitored the growing crack for years said on Wednesday. "The iceberg weighs more than a trillion tonnes, but it was already floating before it calved away so has no immediate impact on sea level," the team said. It will likely be named A68.With the calving, the Larsen C ice shelf lost more than 12 percent of its total surface area.Icebergs calving from Antarctica are a regular occurrence. "We will continue to monitor both the impact of this calving event on the Larsen C ice shelf and the fate of this huge iceberg," said lead investigator Adrian Luckman of the university's MIDAS project.The fate of the berg is hard to predict. It may stay in one piece, but could also break into fragments.

Source: Times of India July 12, 2017 11:41 UTC