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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are vanishing and projected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published recently.

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research published in May of this year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are among the biggest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the study notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists examined recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the ice bodies researchers looked at is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”