UK researchers will be soon tracking a vast iceberg in Antarctica that could enter shipping lanes. An emergency grant was awarded to the researchers for the same.

It has been showed through images that there exists several kilometers of water between the iceberg and the glacier that spawned the block. The iceberg is estimated to be nearly 700 sq km.

A six-moth project has been provided with the £50,000 award. The iceberg was created after the icy giant separated from the Pine Island Glacier in July.

Principal investigator Grant Bigg is from the University of Sheffield. He said, "From the time it had been found that the crack had gone all the way across in July, it had stayed iced-in because it was still winter (in Antarctica)".

The situation, however, changed in the last couple of days when it began to break away. As a result, a kilometer or two of clear water has developed between it and the glacier.

Prof. Bigg told BBC News that the tracking of one iceberg came while going through The Drakes Passage. It is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn and Antarctica's South Shetland Islands. A spectacular crack was first noticed across the surface of the PIG in October 2011.