Huge ice chunk breaks from Greenland glacier

An ice island four times the size of Manhattan broke off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers, scientists have revealed.

The new ice island, which broke off on Thursday, will enter a remote place called the Nares Strait, about 620 miles south of the North Pole between Greenland and Canada.

The ice island has an area of 100 square miles (260 square km) and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building, said Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware.'The freshwater stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson Rivers flowing for more than two years,' said Muenchow, whose research in the area is supported by the National Science Foundation.

'It could also keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days.'