Runaway Iceberg Heads for Warmer Climate

According to CNN and other sources, an iceberg, more than twice the size of New York's Manhattan island, is drifting slowly toward Australia.

The iceberg, measuring 54 square miles, cleaved off the Ross ice shelf nearly 10 years ago and had been floating near Antarctica before commencing on its unusual journey north.

Named B17B, it was about 1,056 miles off the coast of West Australia, according to the country's Antarctic Division.

"B17B is a very significant one in that it has drifted so far north while still largely intact," said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young, who spotted the slab using satellite images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.

It was three times its current size when it broke off Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in 2000 and Young said it was one of the largest to be spotted so far north.

‘It’s one of the biggest sighted at those latitudes."

Scientists believe the iceberg will break up and melt rapidly as it continues its journey north. Before it melts, however, it could present a danger to ships navigating the region, Young said.