Antarctic Division spotted giant iceberg, warning issued

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a shipping alert Friday after a massive iceberg was spotted 1,100 miles (1,700 kilometers) off the country's southwestern coast. Glaciologist Neal Young of the Australian Antarctic Division spotted the iceberg on satellite imaging. It is 12 miles (19 kilometers) long and 5 miles (8 kilometers) wide, and is edging slowly northeastward toward Western Australia State, Young said in a statement. Young said the iceberg is one of several that split off in Antarctica in 2000 when parts of two major ice shelves the Ross Sea Ice Shelf and Ronne Ice Shelf fractured. The iceberg is expected to break up as it moves north into warmer waters, resulting in hundreds of smaller icebergs that could be hazardous to ships.