🔗 Share this article Ice Sheet Melt Will Lead to Ice-Free Peaks in the Golden State for First Time in Recorded History Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away entirely by the start of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered. Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to a report published recently. “Our pieced-together ice age record shows that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study declares. Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A research published in the month of May of the current year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement. Across the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the report. Focus on Major Ice Bodies The new research focuses on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the study states. Research Methods and Findings Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to determine how extensively the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for far longer than earlier believed – since before humans occupied North America. The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers experts looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, a researcher of the investigation said. Ecological and Symbolic Consequences “We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”