Fighting Climate Change with Artificial Glaciers

A former engineer based in India claims to have found a way to manufacture artificial glaciers as a means of fighting the impact of climate change.  76-year-old Chewang Norphel has already created 12 new glaciers in the Himalayas, and his goal is to forge five more while he is still alive.  His long term vision is that, once gone, others will follow in his path to ensure the Himalayan Glaciers – sometimes referred to as the “third ice-cap” – are not destroyed as a result of global warming.

Himalayan Glaciers

The Himalayas feature approximately 15,000 glaciers which, between them, hold thousands of kilometres-cubed of water.  A recent report carried out by the United Nations forecast that these glaciers could have vanished by 2035 once climate change has truly taken hold. 
The Himalayan Glaciers represent a crucial water supply for thousands of local residents.  The water they provide flows into a network of rivers that act as an irrigation-source for farmers in Nepal, Bangladesh and Tibet alike.  A wave of recent floods has vanquished the land, however, and left homes in ruins. 

These floods have been linked to what seems to be a sped-up glacial melting rate up in the mountains. 

Norphel’s solution to all this involves redirecting water from melted glaciers through a series of pipes until it reaches a shaded area.  With no sun touching it whatsoever during the winter months, this water is effectively trapped in situ through the addition of a dam.  Night time temperatures causes the water to freeze and its not until springtime that warmer temperatures encourage the ice to turn to water again, travel down the mountains and eventually replenish the land down below. 

Man-Made Glaciers

The project is basically water management on a grand scale – an exercise in control over nature and just one way in which the wider fight against climate change is being implemented. 

Each of Norphel’s man-made glaciers has, to date, been capable of holding as much as 1,000,000 cubic feet of ice – sufficient to ultimately irrigate an area of farm 200 hectares across.  This is enough land to produce over 1,000 tons of crops.

The Indian government has now become aware of what this man is doing and, as a result, invested £16,000 into the construction of five more glaciers.  According to comments made to local publication the Hindustan Times, however, Norphel feels that time is working against him.  “I'm planning to train villagers with instruction CDs that I have made, so that I can pass on the knowledge before I die”, he stated. 

See also:

Climate Change Melting Kashmir Glaciers