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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are disappearing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, new research has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

“Our reconstructed ice age record shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Global Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are under threat amid the climate crisis. A study released in May of this year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to thaw because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on course for, as up to 75% will vanish, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the western region, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and took samples to determine how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers looked at is believed to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has ecological ramifications 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 Western U.S..”