Giant Monster Iceberg Headed Towards Australia

A 12-mile-long massive iceberg (twice the size of Hong Kong island) is headed towards Australia in what scientists are calling a “once-in-a-century event.”

The 54 square-mile ice slab known as B17B, is currently about 1,000 miles south of the continent. Initially three times as big, it broke off of the Antarctic about 10 years ago and has been slowly floating around. It’s current path north is unusual — and incredibly rare. “I’m guessing you would probably have to go back to the times of the clipper ships,” one glaciologist told USA Today.

B17B is expected to break up into smaller, but still hazardous chunks as it enters warmer waters and moves closer to Australia. It joins two other large icebergs currently floating down under — as well as several hundred currently infesting the waters around New Zealand.

Researchers warn that as global warming effects the colder regions of our planet, icebergs of this size are likely to occur more often.