This massive iceberg is approximately the size of Luxembourg.

 

February 28, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Environmental researchers say a giant piece of ice previously attached to the tip of Mertz Tongue in Eastern Antarctic has broken away and it is now floating freely in Southern Ocean.

 

The massive iceberg is approximately the size of Luxembourg that is about 78 km long, 36 km wide with a surface area of 2500 sq km. The height of this piece if ice averages about 400 meters.

 

The iceberg broke off from the mainland three weeks ago when another huge floating iceberg rammed into it thus creating a phenomenon known as calving. ‘The calving itself hasn't been directly linked to climate change but it is related to the natural processes occurring on the ice sheet,’ Reuters reported Rob Massom, a scientist at the Australian Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre in Hobart, Tasmania as saying.