Glacier growing, artificial glaciation or

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

grafting, is a practice carried out in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

and

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

regions aimed at creating small new glaciers to increase water supply for crops and in some cases to sustain

micro hydro Micro hydro is a type of hydroelectric power that typically produces from 5 kW to 100 kW of electricity using the natural flow of water. Installations below 5 kW are called pico hydro. These installations can provide power to an i ...

power. In order to encourage the growth of a glacier local farmers acquire ice from naturally occurring glaciers, and carry it to high altitude areas where the ice is put inside a small cave dug out in a

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

-slope. Along with the ice other ingredients such as water, salt, sawdust, wheat husks and charcoal are also placed at the site.Tveiten, I. (2007): ''Glacier Growing - A Local Response to Water Scarcity in Baltistan and Gilgit'', The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Master of Science Thesis
Abstract, pdf 65 Kb
The use of glacier grafting is an old skill of the mountain farmers of

Baltistan Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...

and

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...

, where it is used for irrigation purposes since at least the 19th century. This technique was described by Lieutenant

David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer CIE (24 December 1876 in Dundee – 26 February 1962) was a member of the British Indian Army, a political official in the British Indian government and a noted linguist. The Indian Politic ...

(1876–1962) in the 1920s. Allegedly glacier grafting also has been used to block

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

es.

Background

In the high Himalaya water is the limiting factor for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and many farmers experience scarcity of water in late autumn - a period critical to the maturation of crops. Farmers living in watersheds without glaciers are especially vulnerable since they largely depend on snow melt for irrigation, in contrast to other areas where glaciers are a reliable source of water. In such communities glacier grafting is often attempted as a means to encourage the growth of new glaciers and thus ensure the existence of water resources.

Procedures

The first step involves looking for a suitable location to glacier growing. The preferred terrain, according to glacier growers in Baltistan and Gilgit, is in shadowed scree-slopes overlooked by steep

headwall In physical geography and geology the headwall of a glacial cirque is its highest cliff. The term has been more broadly used to describe similar geomorphic features of non-glacial origin consisting of a concave depression with convergent slopes ty ...

s. Commonly the sites are located between 4,000-5,000 metres

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Such locations are susceptible to snowfall and

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

s during winter and spring, creating an environment conducive to the accumulation of ice. Ice is transported in baskets of woven willow twigs by teams of two and two, who take turns to carry the baskets. This usually involves ascents from lower lying valleys (around 2,000-3,000 metres above sea level) up to the site selected for the glacier growing. Similar efforts are being carried out by the noted engineer

Chewang Norphel Chewang Norphel ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་འཕེལ། (born 1935) is an Indian civil engineer from Ladakh, who has built 15 artificial glaciers. He has earned the nickname ''Ice Man''. Early life and career Coming from a middle-c ...

, in the adjacent

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

region.

References

External links

Adaptation: Ice stupas of Ladakh
Climate researcher

Alizé Carrère Alizé Carrère is a French-American climate researcher, filmmaker and science communicator. As a social scientist, she studies how humans adapt to changing physical environments, particularly with respect to climate change. Her academic researc ...

examines the growing of artificial glaciers in Tibet {{Commons-inline, Artificial glacier, glacier growing Glaciology Pakistani culture

Background

Procedures

See also

References

External links