A 'gigantic' 315 billion tonne piece of ice has broken loose from Antarctica

The "calving" is part of the normal life cycle of ice shelves and not due to global warming, scientists have said.

The new iceberg, D28. Source: European Copernicus program

A new iceberg, more than half the size of the Australian Capital Territory, has broken off from the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. 

The iceberg covers 1,636 square kilometres but its separation is part of the normal cycle and not the result of climate change, the Australian Antarctic Division said.

European and US satellites captured the iceberg, now labelled D28, breaking away from the ice shelf on Thursday. It is about 210 meters thick and contains 315 billion tonnes of ice, American glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker said.

The iceberg is 1636 square kilometres in size. Source: Australian Antarctic Division

In a statement on Tuesday, the Australian Antarctic Division said the iceberg was "gigantic" but reiterated that the calving was part of the normal cycle of ice shelves.

It's been more than 50 years since the last "major calving event" on the Amery ice shelf, which is the third-largest in Antarctica and located between two Australian research stations, the statement read.

"Ice shelves have to lose mass because they gain mass. They want to stay the same size," Ms Fricker, a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, said.

The gain in mass comes from snow falling on the continent and glaciers that move slowly toward the shore.

The east of Antarctica - where D28 broke off - is different from the west of the continent and Greenland, which are rapidly warming due to climate change.

"It's really important that the public doesn't get confused and think that this is climate change," Ms Fricker said.

"It's a fine line because we definitely don't want people to think that climate change isn't happening."

An iceberg that was three times larger broke off Antarctica two years ago, she said, causing panic at the time.

Australian glaciologist Ben Galton-Fenzi said the carving was unlikely to affect sea levels as the ice shelf is already floating on the ocean.

"What will be interesting to see is how the loss of this ice will influence the ocean melting under the remaining ice shelf and the speed at which the ice flows off the continent," he said. 

With AFP.