🔗 Share this article

Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers 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 Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than previously known, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published recently.

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

Global Risk to Glaciers

Ice masses globally are at risk during the climate emergency. A study released in May of this year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, leading to ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk significantly since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and probably most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the article notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how long the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for much longer than previously known – since before people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the glaciers researchers studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”