100-Mile Crack Slicing Through Antarctic Ice Shelf Troubles Scientists

A rift in an Antarctic ice shelf has grown to more than 100 miles long, and scientists say it could soon calve off into one of the largest icebergs ever recorded.

A U.K.-based team of scientists known as Project MIDAS (@MIDASOnIce) says the iceberg is likely to break free from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf within the next few months. The ice already floats on the ocean, so its separation won't raise sea levels, but the loss of such a large chunk of sea ice is likely to hasten the melting of glaciers on land, which would contribute to sea level rise.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with Project MIDAS's Martin O'Leary (@mewo2), a glaciologist at Swansea University in Wales.