GoKawiilStudy: Fossil fuel emissions halted growth of North America's last ice sheet remnant
Research published in Science analyzed ancient vegetation and rock samples around Canada's Barnes Ice Cap, a remnant of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on Baffin Island, finding it had been expanding for thousands of years before abruptly reversing in the 1960s. Scientists tied that reversal to the sharp rise in carbon emissions during that period.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The findings suggest industrial-era warming may have interrupted a natural cycle that would otherwise have pushed Earth toward another ice age, according to outside expert Andrew Wickert. This indicates human influence on climate began reshaping major ice formations earlier and more forcefully than commonly assumed, even at comparatively low emission levels in the mid-20th century.
- Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island grew for millennia, then shrank rapidly starting in the 1960s.
- Researchers link the reversal timing to the ramp-up of fossil fuel emissions.
- Findings suggest human-caused warming may have already prevented a new ice age from forming.
Source: wired.com — Molly Taft, 2026-10-22
Published there as: “A New Ice Age Was Beginning. Then Humans Started Burning Fossil Fuels”
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