<P> On 1 May 2017 members of MIDAS reported that satellite images showed a new crack, around 15 km (9 mi) long, branching off the main crack approximately 10 km (6 mi) behind the previous tip, heading toward the ice front . Scientists with Swansea University in the UK say the crack lengthened 18 km (11 mi) from 25 May to 31 May, and that less than 13 km (8 mi) of ice is all that prevents the birth of an enormous iceberg . "The rift tip appears also to have turned significantly towards the ice front, indicating that the time of calving is probably very close," Adrian Luckman and Martin O'Leary wrote on Wednesday in a blog post for the Impact of Melt on Ice Shelf Dynamics and Stability project, or MIDAS . "There appears to be very little to prevent the iceberg from breaking away completely ." The larger swath of the Larsen C ice shelf that sat behind the calved iceberg "will be less stable than it was prior to the rift" and may rapidly disintegrate in the same manner as Larsen B did in 2002 . </P> <P> In June 2017 the speed of the imminent Larsen C iceberg accelerated, with the eastern end moving at 10 metres (33 ft) per day away from the main shelf . As discussed by the Project MIDAS researchers on their site: "In another sign that the iceberg calving is imminent, the soon - to - be-iceberg part of Larsen C ice shelf has tripled in speed to more than 10 meters per day between 24 and 27 June 2017 . The iceberg remains attached to the ice shelf, but its outer end is moving at the highest speed ever recorded on this ice shelf ." </P> <P> On 7 July the Project MIDAS blog report stated: "The latest data from 6th July reveal that, in a release of built - up stresses, the rift branched several times . Using data from ESA's Sentinel - 1 satellites, we can see that there are multiple rift tips now within 5 km (3.10 miles) of the ice edge . We expect that these rifts will lead to the formation of several smaller icebergs ." </P> <P> On 12 July 2017, Project MIDAS announced that a large, 5,800 - square - kilometre (2,200 sq mi) portion of Larsen C had broken from the main ice sheet at some point between 10 and 12 July . The iceberg, designated A-68, weighs more than a trillion tons and is more than 200 m (700 ft) thick . </P>

When did the ice shelf on the antarctic peninsula collapse