Giant iceberg hits glacier

The world's biggest iceberg has hit the end of an Antarctic glacier, snapping off a block about five square kilometres, a New Zealand scientist said on Wednesday.

The giant iceberg, known as B15A, ran into the tip of the Drygalski Ice Tongue in "more of a nudge than a collision", said Lou Sanson, chief executive of the government scientific agency Antarctica New Zealand.

The clash between the 160-kilometre-long iceberg and the 70-kilometre-long glacier near McMurdo station on the North Antarctic coast was first predicted by scientists in late December.

The collision was discovered by scientists reviewing satellite photos taken over the weekend, Sanson said.

"That's the only record we've got of it," at this stage, he said.

The last of the sun's rays were hitting the frozen southern on Wednesday, as the southern hemisphere winter closes in on the region. Sunlight will return to the Antarctic on August 20.

Sanson said it was possible the iceberg would now head back out to sea.

The giant iceberg had blocked sea access to the region, threatening penguin breeding colonies and blocking ships supplying food and fuel to Antarctic research stations for some months.

The US McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base are located on the sound, and Italy's Terra Nova base is nearby.

McMurdo station has a staff of about 1 000 during the summer and about 100 remain for the harsh polar winter. Scott Base has about 100 staff during the summer and only about 12 in the winter.

The iceberg, which contains enough water to supply the River Nile for 80 years, had blocked wind and water currents in the sound, causing a build-up of ice which impeded ships needed to supply food and fuel to the three research stations.

Two icebreakers managed to smash a 50-kilometre track through the ice to McMurdo Pier, enabling ships to deliver supplies.