Ice Sheet Thawing Will Lead to Ice-Free Summits in the Golden State for First Instance in Recorded History

Far in the state of Sierra Nevada, enormous ice formations are disappearing and expected to melt away completely by the beginning of the next century, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are older 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 pieced-together ice age record shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses globally are under threat amid the climate emergency. A research released in May of the current year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how extensively the region was covered by ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers attained their maximum positions as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and one of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in recorded history, shows the dramatic effects of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”