Ice Sheet Thawing Will Lead to Ice-Free Summits in the Golden State for First Instance in Recorded History

Deep in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous ice formations are vanishing and projected to dissolve entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article released recently.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are at risk amid the climate emergency. A research released in the month of May of this year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the western region, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since before people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their maximum positions as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is believed to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Environmental and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”