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Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are disappearing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, new research has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

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

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

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A research published in the month of May of the current year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on course for, as up to seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their durability amid global heating makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the article states.

Research Methods and Results

Scientists looked at newly uncovered base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was covered by ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since before people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts looked at is believed to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in recorded history, shows the dramatic effects of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological implications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”