ST. PETERSBURG, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - The collapse of the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica will not cause sea levels to increase, Russian experts from a St. Petersburg research institute said Monday.

A 41x2.5 km iceberg split off from the Wilkins ice shelf in the southwestern part of the Antarctic Peninsula in late February, triggering the fast destruction of a significant part of the ice shelf's edge, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Russia's second-largest city said in a press release.

The Russian scientists said the destruction of the ice shelf is due to a significant rise in temperatures in the area of the Antarctic Peninsula, with ground temperatures in the area rising by about 2.5 degrees Celsius over the last 50 years.

However, "there is nothing unusual or catastrophic about it. The Wilkins ice shelf covers an area of 13,700 square kilometers, and only a small part of it has been destroyed," the institute said.

The Russian scientists said that a large part of the Larsen ice shelf in the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula was seriously destroyed in 2002.

The majority of climate change experts, environmental groups and organizations say that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity, which is causing significant damage to the Earth. Others argue that the possible harm has not yet been proven.