Biggest iceberg in 50 years breaks off glacier in Antarctica

Scientists predicted D28 iceberg would break off would happen between 2002 and 2015.

An iceberg five times the size of Malta has broken off a glacier in Antarctica.

The D28 iceberg, known as "Loose Tooth", was photographed breaking from the Amery ice shelf by the European Union Earth Observation Program. It is 213m thick and contains 314 billion tonnes.

The iceberg was captured breaking away from the Amery ice shelf. Photo / NASA

Scientists have not linked this event to climate change, but have concerns about the iceberg's travel path, the Daily Mail reveals.

Although some may point to climate change the reason the iceberg has broken off, scientists have revealed that this is a natural event and it is how "ice streams maintain equilibrium, balancing the input of snow upstream", according to the BBC.

Amery is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica. The breakaway of the massive iceberg has not happened since the early 1960s, BBC reports.

Professor Helen Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography predicted this event back in 2002, believing it would break off sometime between 2010 and 2015.

"It is the molar compared to a baby tooth," Fricker told BBC News.

"While there is much to be concerned about in Antarctica, there is no cause for alarm yet for this particular ice shelf."