Ice Sheet Melt Will Lead to Ice-Free Summits in California for First Time in Recorded History

Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous ice formations are disappearing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate crisis. A study published in May of the current year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on course for, as up to 75% will vanish, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Key Glaciers

The recent study focuses on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped swaths of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”