Ice island the size of Manhattan floating towards Canada

A Manhattan-sized chunk of ice is drifting towards the coast of Canada - providing a stunning sight for tourists, but posing a potentially serious threat to shipping.



The 20-square-mile chunk of ice broke off a glacier in Greenland nearly a year ago and is headed towards the Newfoundland coast.



It was formed when a 97-square-mile chunk of ice broke off the Petermann Glacier on August 5, 2010, possibly due to warming of the Atlantic Ocean.

Not ice to see you: The 20sq-mile chunk of ice is posing a threat to shipping as it drifts towards Canada

The ice island - at roughly 6.2 miles long and 3.1 miles wide the largest single chunk remaining from the massive parent chunk - has been winding its way through Arctic waters ever since.



In the past few days, it has been moving south at a rate of 5 to 6 miles per hour.



The Canadian Ice Service, a department of Environment Canada, has been tracking the movement of the ice island.



On Thursday, it was about 11.5 miles off the Labrador coast, drifting toward Newfoundland, said Lionel Hache, senior ice forecaster with Ottawa-based agency.



Mr Hache said it was hard to project what course the ice island would take because it was following the water current.



Tip of... the iceberg was formed when a 97-square-mile chunk of ice broke off the Petermann Glacier on August 5, 2010

He said: 'The general direction is south but not in a straight line.



'You have different branches of the current. One of the branches could bring it toward shore, other branches could move it further offshore.'



It's unlikely the ice island will get too close to shore because it would probably be 'grounded' — meaning it would touch the bottom of the ocean — before reaching the coast, Mr Hache said.



He warned it could interfere with shipping lanes and possibly threaten some offshore oil rigs.



But, Hache noted, 'a ship going through this water is already watching for icebergs. This one is quite easy to see, so unless you're blind you shouldn't run into this thing.'



The Ice Service has been tracking the ice island, dubbed PII-A, via satellite and radio beacon.



Titanic: A fisherman photographs the huge floating ice sheet, which has been has been moving south at a rate of 5 to 6 miles per hour

Locator map showing the area where the iceberg is floating

A Labrador crab fisherman, Eldred Burden, shot breathtaking video of the ice chunk late last month from his trawler off the coast of Black Tickle, Labrador.



Pieces have been breaking off, reducing its size since then.



The 52-year-old fisherman, from Port Hope Simpson, told the Toronto star: 'I’ve seen icebergs before but this was unreal. It looked like something that shouldn’t be there,”



He described the ice chunk as a dazzling white, with valleys, brooks, ponds and even seals on it.



Mr Burden told the Star he poured himself a cup of coffee and just stared.



'I’d never seen anything like this. The boat felt very small.'



Mr Hache said there should be no fear of an impending apocalypse.

