A photographer who travelled to Greenland to capture the ‘changing landscape of the ice’ was in awe to witness the moment a giant iceberg split before crashing into the sea.

Daniel Haussman, 40, planned to capture the ice sheets at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, which can change almost daily as warmer temperatures cause freezing water to melt.

He took five drones and professional camera equipment to document the environment – but ended up using his smartphone to record the glacier crumble into the water just metres away.

The boat he was travelling on quickly moved away, as the collapse created a huge wave, which hurtled towards him.

Daniel, from Frankfurt, Germany, said: “It really puts it into perspective, I thought 'look at this, this is climate change in action'. This really is how it happens.

“Everyone on the boat was saying 'oh look it's moving a bit'. I didn't have time to launch a drone before it started to collapse and then we realised that we really had to get out of there.

"The ice changes constantly and every time it is unique, even day to day. It is a fascinating place and a bucket list trip for me."

After capturing the iceberg as it collapsed, Daniel returned to the area to see the aftermath, which he recorded in eye-opening drone footage.

The water appears like acrylic paint as it pooled into a marble effect, showing the spread of the melting ocean.

It offered the perfect snapshot into the consequences of climate change, which Daniel hoped to explore in Greenland as the landscape continually changes.

He said: ““No one knows what these places are going to look like in a few years from now.

“Given that recently due to the relatively high temperatures record levels of ice [that] is melting in Greenland, this becomes even more important to document.

“In any case for me, this was still an amazing but also scary experience.

“Seeing these mountains of ice slowly dissolve makes one sad in a way. But at the same time seeing the (relatively moderate) tsunami wave rolling towards you and the boat captain going full speed away was also a little nerve-wracking.

“We were travelling with local people who knew exactly what to do, but we felt very aware of the dangers."

Using drones, Daniel soared across the huge white icebergs which towered out of the blue water, showing the jagged edges and tips that shimmer in the bright sunlight.

He moved round the ice chunks and down the vast slopes that plunge into the still ocean, showing the huge scale of the blocks which are slowly crumbling away.

In 2021, Columbia University scientists discovered that Greenland's ice sheets had lost 8.5billion tonnes of surface mass in a single day - enough to cover the whole of Florida USA in two inches of water.