A way has been found out by the US researchers which can predict the rate at which ice shelves break apart into icebergs.

Calving events, which are sometimes spectacular occurrences, are a key step in the process by which climate change drives sea level rise.

The Science journal reports that computers do not describe the calving process in much detail. They however, simulate how ice sheets might behave in a warmer world. Till now, the factors that control this process have not been well understood.

The journal reports, "Ice sheets, such as those in Antarctica and Greenland, spread under their own weight and flow off land over the ocean water. Ice shelves are the thick, floating lips of ice sheets or glaciers that extend out past the coastline."