{
  "id": 16325894,
  "title": "Ice sheet expansion may have started 2,000 years ago, but we canceled that",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/ice-sheet-expansion-may-have-started-2-000-years-ago-but-we-canceled",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-24T11:00:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Ars Technica Science",
    "slug": "ars-technica-science",
    "url": "https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/ice-sheet-expansion-may-have-started-2000-years-go-but-we-canceled-that/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Barnes Ice Cap, a fragment of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, has provided direct physical evidence suggesting that ice sheets might have begun expanding again about 2,000 years ago. This remnant ice sheet, located on the central plateau of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, was once part of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered most of Canada under two miles of ice during its peak. Researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, led by geologist Nicolás Young, have published their findings in the journal Science. According to their study, the Laurentide Ice Sheet reached its smallest size around 3,600 years ago before starting to re-expand roughly 2,000 years ago. Young explains that this temporary ice age would have continued until about 1960, when human-induced climate warming reversed the process. The Barnes Ice Cap is the sole surviving fragment of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, having thinned over time and retreated to its current position on Baffin Island. The ice cap's bed is still frozen, keeping it as a relic of the once massive ice sheet that covered the region.",
  "summary": "The tiny remains of the Laurentide Ice Sheet began getting somewhat less tiny.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}