🔗 Share this article Glacier Thawing Will Lead to Glacier-Less Summits in the Golden State for First Time in Human History Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the next century, resulting in summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered. Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers The range's glaciers are older than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published recently. “Our reconstructed ice age record shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares. Worldwide Risk to Glaciers Ice masses globally are at risk amid the climate emergency. A research published in May of the current year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as up to 75% will vanish, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation. Throughout the American west, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article. Focus on Key Glaciers The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the study notes. Research Methods and Findings Researchers looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was covered by ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for far longer than earlier believed – since before people inhabited North America. The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said. Ecological and Representational Consequences “We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”