Study: Human-caused warming halted an incipient ice age on Baffin Island
The gist
A Columbia-led study says the Barnes Ice Cap began regrowing about 2,000 years ago before industrial warming reversed it.
The finding ties a small Arctic ice cap to the question of when Earth's next glacial period would begin.
How it unfolded
- About 3,000 years agoThe Barnes Ice Cap reached its minimum size.
- Roughly 2,000 years agoThe ice cap started to regrow in response to cooler temperatures, which researchers interpret as the earliest stage of the next glacial period.
- Late 1950sThe Barnes Ice Cap kept growing until this point.