Ice Stupas
Day 3,965, 03:35
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Published in India 
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by
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by nani87
ICE STUPAS
Ladakh ("land of high passes") is a region in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the land of jagged peaks and barren landscape is alluring and awe-inspiring. It extends from the Himalayan to the Kunlun Ranges and includes the upper Indus River valley.
This cold desert land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the glaciers and snow of the mountains. Ladakh is suffering from probably its worst water crisis, because of fast receding glaciers and lower snow fall. All due to global warming. This is killing their farming and sustenance for no fault of theirs.
Ladakh suffers from acute water shortage during sowing of new crop (during spring) while they have plenty of water during winter. Harvesting water in dams is difficult because of terrain, cost and distribution. The problem of harvesting winter water is solved by Ice Stupas an idea by Sonam Wangchuk, a mechanical engineer.
1. A small channel of water is drawn through pipes from the flowing winter water from a height in mountain. Gravity helps in sprinkling out water vertically through erected pipe in form of droplets.
2. Droplets when come in contact with winter breeze (below 0c) freeze quickly around the pipe. Droplets take less energy and time to freeze.
3. Ice gets built up naturally in the form of cone. Cone has max volume to surface area ratio after sphere. Less surface is exposed to sunlight and so takes long time to melt.
The ingenious method stores water without the need for concrete water storage tanks or dams. While it won’t stop glaciers from shrinking, it could help people adapt to a warming world. Each structure holds around 15million ltrs of water. By the spring some part of these glacier melts providing water. These artificial glaciers are named as Ice Stupas, Stupas are considered sacred in Indian culture, so that the idea will reach everyone.
This is better explained in the below video
Some facts:
Chewang Norphel (The IceMan of Ladakh) is the inspiration for Sonam Wangchuk. His model of artificial glaciers has limitations of altitude, cost, evaporation rate.
Amir Khan character in ‘3 Idiots’ is inspired from Sonam Wangchuk.
Sources:
1. http://icestupa.org (you can find beautiful photos in their gallery)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonam_Wangchuk_(engineer)
Ladakh ("land of high passes") is a region in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the land of jagged peaks and barren landscape is alluring and awe-inspiring. It extends from the Himalayan to the Kunlun Ranges and includes the upper Indus River valley.
This cold desert land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the glaciers and snow of the mountains. Ladakh is suffering from probably its worst water crisis, because of fast receding glaciers and lower snow fall. All due to global warming. This is killing their farming and sustenance for no fault of theirs.
Ladakh suffers from acute water shortage during sowing of new crop (during spring) while they have plenty of water during winter. Harvesting water in dams is difficult because of terrain, cost and distribution. The problem of harvesting winter water is solved by Ice Stupas an idea by Sonam Wangchuk, a mechanical engineer.
1. A small channel of water is drawn through pipes from the flowing winter water from a height in mountain. Gravity helps in sprinkling out water vertically through erected pipe in form of droplets.
2. Droplets when come in contact with winter breeze (below 0c) freeze quickly around the pipe. Droplets take less energy and time to freeze.
3. Ice gets built up naturally in the form of cone. Cone has max volume to surface area ratio after sphere. Less surface is exposed to sunlight and so takes long time to melt.
The ingenious method stores water without the need for concrete water storage tanks or dams. While it won’t stop glaciers from shrinking, it could help people adapt to a warming world. Each structure holds around 15million ltrs of water. By the spring some part of these glacier melts providing water. These artificial glaciers are named as Ice Stupas, Stupas are considered sacred in Indian culture, so that the idea will reach everyone.
This is better explained in the below video
Some facts:
Chewang Norphel (The IceMan of Ladakh) is the inspiration for Sonam Wangchuk. His model of artificial glaciers has limitations of altitude, cost, evaporation rate.
Amir Khan character in ‘3 Idiots’ is inspired from Sonam Wangchuk.
Sources:
1. http://icestupa.org (you can find beautiful photos in their gallery)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonam_Wangchuk_(engineer)
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Comments
Awesome article! 🙂
I learnt something new about Ice Stupas!
Endorsed, Keep Writing...
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Nice. Keep writing.
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o7
Good article. Please publish it in some other country too.
how can i do that?
When publishing a new article you will see an option about the country you want to publish. Choos the country from that dropdown.
jkgh
You named your paper as "Suprabhatam"
Went to himalayan ice stupas for start.
How come you forgot about our 7 Hills?
v&sd