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A giant iceberg the size of Manhattan has broken away from a glacier in Antarctica due to rising temperatures.

Experts claim the chunk of ice has snapped off due to the waters surrounding the continent having got warmer.

Both climate change and the ocean warming are being blamed globally for the melting and retreat of the world's ice.

NASA released satellite images revealing a section of the Pine Island Glacier measuring approximately a mile long (1.6km) had separated from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at the end of last month.

Sky News reports it's the first time a major iceberg has broken off from the glacier since July 2015 when 225 square miles broke away from the glacier - in a process known as 'calving'.

(Image: NASA Earth Observatory)

This iceberg is 10 times smaller - around 22.7 sq m (59 sq km).

Ohio State University glaciologist Ian Howat told Sky News : "I think this event is the calving equivalent of an 'aftershock' following the much bigger event.

"Apparently, there are weaknesses in the ice shelf - just inland of the rift that caused the 2015 calving - that are resulting in these smaller breaks."

Mr Howat claimed that such "rapid fire" calving is unusual for this glacier.

But he added the phenomenon "fits into the larger picture of basal crevasses in the centre of the ice shelf being eroded by warm ocean water, causing the ice shelf to break from the inside out".