A huge chunk of ice seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed and the rest of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, located between the concave western coastline of Alexander Island and the shores of Charcot Island, is hanging by a thread. The dire announcement was made by the British Antarctic Survey.

"Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened. I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread – we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be," said Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Vaughan is credited with the 1993 prediction that the northern part of Wilkins Ice Shelf was likely to be lost within 30 years if climate warming on the Peninsula were to continue at the same rate. It seems that he was unfortunately right.

Six ice shelves have already collapsed: Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf. The changes are due to global warming. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a rectangular ice shelf about 80 miles long and 60 miles wide.

"Big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble – it's like an explosion," said researcher Jim Elliott, who flew over the ice shelf with the BAS Twin Otter.