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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are disappearing and projected 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 discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

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

“Our reconstructed ice age record indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A research released in the month of May of this year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the world is currently on track for, as up to seventy-five percent will vanish, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

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

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining ice loss in the western region, the study notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how extensively the area was covered by ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since before people occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is believed to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”