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Scientists are warning that an Antarctic ice shelf the size of Northern Ireland is on the verge of disintegration, even though it is the middle of winter.
The European Space Agency says new satellite pictures show the Wilkins shelf - the largest to be threatened - is "hanging by its last thread".
It has been held in place by a thin ice bridge connecting it to an island, but this is now fracturing.
The shelf, near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, had not been expected to collapse until the early 2020s.
It is more proof that the planet is warming more quickly than predicted.
Scientists believe warm water is welling up from the ocean to attack it from beneath.
Seven shelves on the peninsula have fallen.
- INDEPENDENT
