🔗 Share this article

Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are disappearing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report released last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since documented peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate emergency. A study released in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the world is currently on track for, as up to seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the largest and probably oldest in the range. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the western region, the study notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how long the area was blanketed by ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since before humans occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers researchers studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in recorded history, shows the profound effects of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”