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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published recently.

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

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk amid the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of the current year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to thaw because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on course for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the report.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The recent study focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely oldest in the range. Their durability during climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the article notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since before people occupied North America.

The state's glaciers attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers experts looked at is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological implications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”