A photo illustration of an Antarctic iceberg at sunset.
Antarctica shed an iceberg of mind-boggling size from its Larsen C ice shelf this week .The block of ice - one of the largest ever documented - will likely be given the unceremonious name of A68 by the US National Ice Center, whose abbreviations denote both an iceberg's location and order of discovery.
Iceberg A68 now begins a long journey into the Southern Ocean and toward its doom: as liquid in Earth's vast and complex system of water.
Here's how scientists discovered the giant iceberg, how it calved, and how it will eventually die - and be reborn.