On the radio yesterday I heard a spokesman for the weather watchdog group that reported this event and he said the last time this much of this ice shelf broke off was 1500 years ago, (a split second in time as measured with the age of the Earth). So that says 1500 years ago the same conditions existed to cause it. Things that make you say Hmmmmmmmmm.
Yeah, it was those darned Mongols and Vandals and Huns, trashing the steppes in their SUVs!