Artificial glacier

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Artificial glaciers are used to store water in northwest India . The technique uses a system of pipes and dams and was developed in 1987 by Chewang Norphel , a former engineer, while working on the Leh Nutrition Project in Ladakh . For developing this method, Norphel received the Asian Innovation Award from Far Eastern Economic Review in 1999 and the Harmony for Silvers Foundation's Silver Award in 2007 .

background

The mountain people in the border area between India and Pakistan and China , like many people living in high mountains, are faced with the problem that in the mountains precipitation takes place at heights, while the valleys remain dry. In winter the temperature falls below −30 ° C and the annual rainfall is around 50 mm. In spring and summer - i.e. when wheat, oats and peas are planted - hardly any rain falls and the valleys are then supplied by the meltwater from the high altitudes alone . However, in the last few years the glaciers have been disappearing and the fear of drought among mountain dwellers has intensified.

If there is no reservoir from which the meltwater can be fed, the valleys remain dry and agriculture suffers. Glaciers could thus be an important element of successful local agriculture if they were more accessible and usable. Norphel, who worked for a long time as an engineer in the border area in the irrigation industry and built canals and water reservoirs, came up with the idea of ​​storing the annual melt water in the form of ice. His work was captured in a documentary by Syed Fayaz Rizvi entitled A Degree of Concern , which was shown in New Delhi in 2006 on World Environment Day .

Creation of an artificial glacier

First, small stone dams are piled up on the north side of the valley to be irrigated at a height of around 4,500 m above the villages. Stream or melt water is then channeled there through canals or pipes and collects in shallow ponds where the water freezes. After a few weeks of repeatedly pouring water onto the ice body that has already been created, a long, narrow body of ice has formed. According to local geologists, however, the term “artificial glacier” should not be used because it is more an ice body that does not have the properties of a glacier.

The largest "glacier" created in this way provides irrigation for the village of Phuktsey (700 inhabitants), it is about 300 m long, 50 m wide and about 1.2 m thick. Seven such irrigation systems have been built to date, and one such project costs about $ 7,000 to complete.

rating

The scientific assessment of the artificial glaciers is still pending (as of 2008), as they have only recently been researched. However, the benefit that such a project brings to the community as a connecting element is recognized. The locals are convinced of their glaciers, as are some non-governmental organizations , e.g. B. the Aga Khan Development Network with the "Aga Khan Rural Support Program". They give money to spread the technique of glacier creation and to create new glaciers. Since 2006, however, problems have arisen with the financing of further projects, not least because of the remoteness of the pilot projects, and some of the systems already built have already fallen apart due to mismanagement.

Reports of other methods

Laborious transport of the first chunks of ice to the future glacier

According to a report by the New Scientist , the method is much older and was developed by the inhabitants of the mountain regions themselves. According to the report, the technique has been in use since at least 1812, but written references only existed since around 1920 by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer .

The success of an artificial glacier therefore depends first of all on the choice of the right location. Such a location should be between 4000 and 5000 m altitude. A slightly sloping area facing northwest, with numerous stones approx. 25 cm in diameter and surrounded by steep rock faces, has enough shade. If you take stones that are too big or too small, the wind cannot circulate properly to deposit more moisture. "Male ice" can now form there between the rocks. Should z. B. If there are not enough suitable stones available, they have to be brought in.

The glacier builders differentiate between two types of glacier ice: the “male” and the “female”. A glacier must contain both types.

  • “Male ice” has numerous contamination from stones and earth. It hardly moves or does not move at all.
  • "Female ice" has few impurities and therefore appears whiter. It moves fast.

Note: There are differences in the definition of “male” and “female” ice cream. So the male is also defined as the white ice without impurities. It is important that both variants are available.

Creation of an artificial glacier. You can see the chunks of ice and the calabashes with the water

The “male ice” is covered with a layer of “female ice”. To do this, several kilograms of white ice have to be brought in from the area. The ice is now loosely piled up. Containers with water are placed between the ice lumps as a binding agent. They break open when they freeze, connecting the chunks. The entire structure is then isolated in order to avoid premature melting. To do this, a layer of charcoal, rags, etc. is usually placed on the ice.

The created work must now be left untouched for about four winters so that stones from the surrounding mountains and, above all, snow and ice can collect on the artificial glacier. Then the mass should be big enough to slide slowly down the slope due to its own weight. The chosen slope is decisive here. Such a glacier can be several hundred meters long.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winners - Chewang Norphel by Tashi Morup and Sharon Sonam, Harmony for Silvers Foundation, Mumbai ( Memento of October 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ "Artificial Glaciers" Aid Farmers in the Himalayas , by Pallava Bagla, National Geographic News, September 4, 2001
  3. ↑ In Ladakh, glacier melt raises fears of water woes , AFP, September 18, 2007 ( Memento from July 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  4. ^ A Degree of Concern on You Tube
  5. ↑ Chewang Norphel , biography at Rainwaterharvesting.org (Engl.)
  6. ↑ A Ladakh villager makes artificial glaciers to harvest water , Pallava Bagla, The Indian Express, Bombay, October 29, 1998 (Engl.)
  7. ↑ a b 'Ice Man' vs. Global Warming , Heidi Shrager, Time, February 25, 2008
  8. ↑ Article in the New Scientist ( Memento of March 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (abstract)
  9. ↑ Inayatullah Faizi: Artificial glacier grafting: Indigenous knowledge of the mountain people of Chitral , Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN) Bulletin 8, No. 1. 2007, pdf, 600 kB ( Memento of May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Artificial Glaciers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files