by Isaac Himmelman

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded broke off from an ice shelf in Antarctica, British scientists announced Wednesday.

Known as A68, the iceberg weighs 1 trillion tons and is twice of the volume of Lake Erie.

Even though scientists first spotted the 120-mile crack in 2011, an ever-lengthening crack in the ice shelf garnered worldwide attention in the last few months. According to Project MIDAS, which has been monitoring the shelf, A68 broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf between Monday and Wednesday.

While the new iceberg won’t change sea levels if it melts, it could pose an immediate threat to boats sailing on the South Atlantic.

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