🔗 Share this article

Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are disappearing and projected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's glaciers are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published recently.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk during the climate emergency. A research released in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the biggest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability during global heating makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists looked at recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and took samples to ascertain how long the area was covered by ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since before people inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers attained their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the glaciers experts studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”