🔗 Share this article Glacier Thawing Will Lead to Ice-Free Peaks in the Golden State for First Instance in Recorded History Deep in the state of Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has found. Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published last week. “Our pieced-together glacial history shows that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states. Worldwide Threat to Glaciers Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A research published in the month of May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on course for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing sea level rise and mass displacement. Throughout the Western United States, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report. Concentration on Key Ice Bodies The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the largest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the article states. Research Methods and Findings Researchers looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered swaths of the range for much longer than previously known – since before people occupied North America. The state's glacial sheets reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have grown 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said. Ecological and Representational Consequences “We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has ecological implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”