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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are disappearing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report published last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A study released in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to thaw because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk significantly since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists examined recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how long the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths 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 early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”