WELLINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- In a rare event clusters of icebergs have been spotted in New Zealand waters for the first time since 1948.

    The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)told New Zealand Press Association on Thursday the icebergs were sighted in the Southern Pacific Ocean east of Campbell Island, 700km southeast of the South Island of New Zealand.

    NIWA scientist Lionel Carter said 15 icebergs, some up to 3 km wide, were recorded in a single sighting just before Christmas.

    "In 30 years of working for NIWA, this is the first time I have recorded sightings of icebergs in New Zealand waters," he said.

    Previous reports of icebergs were in the 1890s, early 1920s, 1930s and in 1948.

    NIWA warned the icebergs would be a hazard to all shipping, including yachts participating in the Vendeeglobe race where sailors are racing solo, non-stop around the world.

    A solo sailor hit one of the icebergs just before Christmas, but the boat sustained only minor damage, Carter said.

    Carter said the icebergs may have been generated by large break-ups of the vast ice shelves in the Ross Sea and Weddel Sea in recent years.

    "Clearly large quantities of ice were originally involved because the icebergs have survived a journey of several thousands of kilometers in relatively warm water -- 5 to 8 degrees," Carter said.

    Cloudy conditions had prevented satellite tracking and recording of the icebergs and NIWA had relied on visual confirmation. The icebergs are expected to drift away towards South America.

    Carter said it was too soon to blame this latest flotilla of ice on global warming.

    "Icebergs were seen in New Zealand waters well before significant warming of the climate," Carter said.

    "However, the coincidence of large collapses of the Antarctic ice shelves with a rapidly changing climate cannot be dismissed, which is why considerable effort is going into identifying the causes of ice shelf collapse and its downstream effects on global ocean and climate," he added.

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