🔗 Share this article

Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are disappearing and projected to dissolve entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has found.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study declares.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are under threat amid the climate crisis. A study released in May of this year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the biggest and likely oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the western region, the article notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how long the region was covered by ice. They found that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”