Massive Ice Island Almost Through the Nares Strait [Photo]

A massive island of ice that came loose from a large iceberg earlier this year is now almost through the Nares Strait, heading towards the northern Atlantic Ocean. Since it poses a significant risk to navigation, experts are keeping an eye on it.

The island calved off the Petermann Glacier, in northwestern Greenland, in mid-July, and has been making its way through the Nares Strait ever since. Scientists have dubbed it PII-2012. On August 31, the ice mass was still intact.

By September 4, however, the entire frozen island began to tear itself apart, a process that is very dangerous for ship traffic in the area. At this point, the debris is located between Greenland and Ellesmere Island.

The image above was collected using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the NASA Terra satellite, on September 13, 2012.