Ice Sheet Thawing Will Lead to Ice-Free Peaks in California for First Instance in Human History

Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Glaciers

The range's glaciers are older than previously known, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old 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 without precedent in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Global Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research released in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the world is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining ice loss in the west, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was blanketed by ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts looked at is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”