The world’s biggest iceberg — larger than the Spanish island of Mallorca — has formed after breaking off from Antarctica, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Satellite imagery shows the mass of ice is about 170 kilometres (105 miles) long and 25 kilometres wide.
The iceberg, named A-76 by scientists, is now floating in the Weddell Sea after breaking away from the Ronne Ice Shelf in northwest Antarctica.
It is 500 square kilometres larger than the previous record holder.
The ‘calving’ of the iceberg is not thought to have been a result of climate change. Scientists say periodic calving of large chunks of ice is part of a natural cycle.
Once the iceberg melts, it will not raise the sea level because it was part of a floating ice shelf.
Ice shelves along the Antarctic peninsula however have undergone rapid deterioration recently, which some scientists believe could be a result of global warming.
