It seems a really large chunk of ice has broken off of Antarctica, and the news is just making the rounds.

Vast Antarctic Ice Shelf on Verge of Collapse:

A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth’s southernmost continent.

Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events.

Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles (41 kilometers by 2.5 kilometers - about 10 times the area of Manhattan) that appeared to have broken away from the shelf.

Scambos alerted colleagues at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) that it looked like the entire ice shelf - about 6,180 square miles (16,000 square kilometers - about the size of Northern Ireland)- was at risk of collapsing.

David Vaughan of the BAS had predicted in 1993 that the northern part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf was likely to be lost within 30 years if warming on the Peninsula continued at the same rate.

“Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we’ll know in the next few days and weeks what its fate will be.”

Also, Huge Antarctic ice chunk collapses:

A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.

Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

…

Such occurrences are “more indicative of a tipping point or trigger in the climate system,” said Sarah Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

For yet more detail, see also:

Wilkins Ice Shelf (small photos)

Antarctica’s Wilkins Ice Shelf Risks Collapse, U.K. Group Says

Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Tied to Global Warming

Antarctic ice shelf disintegrating as result of climate change, say scientists

Vast Antarctic ice shelf on verge of collapse

Huge Iceberg Breaks Away, Antarctic Ice Shelf ‘Hangs By A Thread’