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Far in the state of Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are vanishing and projected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to an article released last week.

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article declares.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Ice masses globally are at risk during the climate emergency. A study published in the month of May of this year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on track for, as up to 75% will vanish, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the report.

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and likely oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to determine how long the region was covered by ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the first time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, 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 glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”