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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Glaciers

The mountain range’s glaciers are older than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published last week.

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

Global Threat to Glaciers

Ice masses around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research released in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the largest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining ice loss in the west, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the region was covered by ice. They found that the ice masses have covered swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to humans occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate change, one author of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”