Huge iceberg set to break off Mertz Glacier

Updated May 18, 2009 15:40:18

A massive iceberg with enough freshwater in it to fill Sydney Harbour 135 times is about to break off the Mertz glacier in Antarctica. The iceberg will be 75 kilometres long and contains 750 thousand gigalitres of ice. Scientists are not sure if it's a natural event, or if global warming is to blame. But a joint Australian and French team hope to find out.

Presenter: Felicity Ogilvie
Speaker: Benoit Legresy, French Glaciologist; Professor Richard Coleman, University of Tasmania; Lydie Lescarmontier, French PhD student