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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and expected to dissolve entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, new research has found.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of this year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on course for, as up to 75% will vanish, 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 Major Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the largest and likely oldest in the range. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the article states.

Research Methods and Findings

Scientists looked at recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to ascertain how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have covered large areas of the mountain system for much longer than earlier believed – since before humans occupied North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. 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..”