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

Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s glaciers are older than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published recently.

“Our pieced-together glacial history shows that a future ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat amid the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the world is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are some of the largest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity during global heating makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers researchers studied is believed to have expanded 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”