A new crack in one of Antarctica’s biggest ice shelves could mean a major break is near

Another branch has appeared in a huge crack on one of Antarctica's largest ice shelves, and scientists fear it's only a matter of time before a huge chunk - potentially containing 5000 square kilometres of ice - breaks away.

A crack in the Larsen C ice shelf, which grew 17 kilometres in December.  

That massive ice chunk is more than twice the size of the ACT.

If this happens, the ice shelf may become increasingly unstable and could even fall apart.

Scientists have been closely monitoring the Larsen C ice shelf, located on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, where a large rift in the ice - now about 180 kilometres long - has been advancing in rapid bursts in recent years.

Read Chelsea Harvey’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “A new crack in one of Antarctica’s biggest ice shelves could mean a major break is near.”