Nasa captures ice splitting from Antarctica

Amazing Nasa photographs shows how an iceberg the size of Manhattan is close to splitting from Antarctica.

The 30-kilometre crack in Pine Island Glacier's ice was set to eventually extend across the surface and calve a giant iceberg.

The rift was 80m wide and 60m deep, and when the ice breaks off it would cover about 900 sq km.

The pictures, taken by Nasa's Terra spacecraft in November 2011 and only released overnight, illustrates how the crack had grown about 2km in one month.