Ice Sheet Thawing Is Set to Ice-Free Peaks in the Golden State for First Time in Recorded History

Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report released recently.

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

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are under threat amid the climate emergency. A study published in May of this year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study notes.

Research Methods and Findings

Researchers looked at newly uncovered bedrock around the ice formations and took samples to determine how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped swaths of the mountain system for much longer than earlier believed – since before people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers experts looked at is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, shows the profound impacts of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”