Glacier Thawing Will Lead to Ice-Free Summits in California for First Time in Recorded History

Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the next century, 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 ice sheets are older than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

“Our pieced-together ice age record shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since documented peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A research released in May of the current year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and likely oldest in the range. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the study states.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how long the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have covered swaths of the mountain system for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”