🔗 Share this article

Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are disappearing and projected to dissolve completely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, new research has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are older than previously known, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published recently.

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known 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 research released in the month of May of this year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as up to seventy-five percent will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the American west, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the biggest and likely oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability amid global heating makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Scientists examined recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers looked at is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

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