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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and projected to melt away completely by the start of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are older than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to a report published recently.

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a future ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Ice masses globally are under threat amid the climate crisis. A study released in the month of May of this year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the largest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the study states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how extensively the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since before humans occupied North America.

California’s glaciers attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the first time in recorded history, shows the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”