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An Antarctic ice shelf has begun to collapse in what scientists say is evidence of climate change.

The 5,000-square mile Wilkins ice sheet in Western Antarctica is "hanging by a thread", the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said.

Satellite images show an iceberg 25.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide broke away last month and about 220 square miles of the shelf is disintegrating.

The break-up is "characteristic of climate-induced ice shelf break-ups", according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Professor David Vaughan of the BAS, who predicted in 1993 that the northern part of the Wilkins ice shelf would be gone in 30 years, said: "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

He said: "Climate warming in the Antarctic Peninsula has pushed the limit of viability for ice shelves further south - setting some of them that used to be stable on a course of retreat and eventual loss.

"The Wilkins breakout won't have any effect on sea level because it is floating already but it is another indication of the impact that climate change is having on the region."

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