Ice Sheet Melt Is Set to Glacier-Less Peaks in the Golden State for First Instance in Human History

Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report released recently.

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since documented settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A study released in May of the current year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on course for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are some of the biggest and probably most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to people occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets attained their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies experts looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, 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 glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”