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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers are disappearing and projected to dissolve entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s glaciers are older 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 ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are under threat amid the climate emergency. A research released in the month of May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on course for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the biggest and probably oldest in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the range for much longer than previously known – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glaciers reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers researchers looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Environmental and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”