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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers are disappearing and expected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, new research has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released recently.

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

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A research released in the month of May of this year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the American west, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the largest and probably most ancient in the range. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the article states.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the glaciers researchers looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has environmental 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.”