WEBVTT - How Could Artificial Glaciers Hydrate the Himalayas?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Bogobam here. Discussions about climate change tend to

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<v Speaker 1>focus on low lying areas like coastal cities, yet people

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<v Speaker 1>who live at higher elevations also feel its negative effects,

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<v Speaker 1>including fresh water shortages. To help these folks get by,

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<v Speaker 1>a Ladaki inventor named Sonam Juan Chuk has created a

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<v Speaker 1>line of artificial glaciers called ice Stupas. They're restoring frozen

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<v Speaker 1>water so it can be used to hydrate crops in

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<v Speaker 1>the driest stretch of the year. Glacial melt water is

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<v Speaker 1>a necessity for most villages in Ladak, a region of

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<v Speaker 1>northern India. Ladak sits on the Tibetan Plateau between the

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<v Speaker 1>Caricorum and the Himalayan mountain ranges. This elevated terrain is

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<v Speaker 1>world famous for its ice supply. Tibetan Plateau and surrounding

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<v Speaker 1>mountains contain more ice than any other non polar area

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<v Speaker 1>on Earth. Much of this is stored up in glaciers,

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<v Speaker 1>which helped feed vital Asian waterways like the Young z

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<v Speaker 1>the Mekong and Indus Rivers. Unfortunately, those glaciers are receding

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<v Speaker 1>because of climate change between two thousand three and the

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<v Speaker 1>ones located near the Brahmaputroz River source lost six point

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<v Speaker 1>nine billion cubic miles of ice. That's twenty eight point

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<v Speaker 1>eight billion cubic kilometers. With glaciers, some seasonal melting is expected,

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<v Speaker 1>but normally winter snowfall allows glaciers to replace the melted

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<v Speaker 1>ice they lose during the springtime. However, across the plateau,

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<v Speaker 1>glaciers are no longer getting enough annual snowfall to offset

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<v Speaker 1>their lost water, and so many of them have been

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<v Speaker 1>dwindling in size. As a cold desert lagac area sees

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<v Speaker 1>very little ratefall, receiving an average of just two to

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<v Speaker 1>three inches per year that's about fifty to seventy millimeters.

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<v Speaker 1>The summer months of June through August do get a

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<v Speaker 1>modest amount of precipitation, However, that's also when a large

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<v Speaker 1>quantity of melted water from neighboring mountain glaciers enters the

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<v Speaker 1>streams that La Duck depends on. A steady water flow

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<v Speaker 1>fills the streams during the winter as well. Yet, because

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<v Speaker 1>of the frozen ground and low air temperatures, the farmers

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<v Speaker 1>can't grow crops during the coldest months of the year.

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<v Speaker 1>According to wang Chuk, winter water gets under utilized. As

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<v Speaker 1>a result, demand for milt water grows exponentially in April

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<v Speaker 1>and May, when the life sustaining crops of wheat, buckwheat,

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<v Speaker 1>and barley need to be sown and hydrated. But in

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<v Speaker 1>the springtime, before the glacial water arrives in force, the

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<v Speaker 1>streams often run dry. Climate change has worsened the problem.

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<v Speaker 1>A twenty seventeen study found that over the past six decades,

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<v Speaker 1>about twenty percent of the permanent ice preserves in Ladock's

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<v Speaker 1>home state have disappeared. That translates to less milt water

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<v Speaker 1>for the locals. Hoping to solve these water woes, a

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<v Speaker 1>civil engineer by the name of Chiwang north Fell devised

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<v Speaker 1>an innovative reservoir system in the nineteen eighties, and I

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<v Speaker 1>hope I'm saying his name correctly. I couldn't find a pronunciation.

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<v Speaker 1>Using dams and channels, nor Fell diverted large volumes of

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<v Speaker 1>glacial water into man made lakes on the shady sides

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<v Speaker 1>of mountains, where it froze into blocks. Come springtime, the

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<v Speaker 1>ice would melt and be sent downhill to farms and

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<v Speaker 1>villages by way of canal, but this ice melted too quickly,

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<v Speaker 1>so the water tended to run out before the summer

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<v Speaker 1>rains arrived. Wang Chuk deduced that the ice in Norfell's

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<v Speaker 1>dams melted so fast because too much of it was

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<v Speaker 1>exposed to direct sunlight. When Chuke figured that if he

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<v Speaker 1>could somehow freeze the ice into a conical tower with

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<v Speaker 1>the narrow end aimed skyward, much less surface area would

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<v Speaker 1>be exposed. To make his frozen stalagmites, wang Chuk devised

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<v Speaker 1>an irrigation system that's brilliant in its simplicity. The major

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<v Speaker 1>component is a long pipeline. Most of this is buried

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<v Speaker 1>deep underground, with one end tapping into a glacial stream

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<v Speaker 1>or naturally occurring reservoir high in the mountains. Through the tube,

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<v Speaker 1>the water rushes in the direction of populated areas at

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<v Speaker 1>lower altitudes. No moving parts or electrical gizmos are needed

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<v Speaker 1>to keep the liquid water flowing. Gravity does the trick.

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<v Speaker 1>It also pushes the water into the final stage of

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<v Speaker 1>its journey downhill. The pipeline connects at a sharp angle

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<v Speaker 1>to another narrower pipe that rises out of the soil,

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<v Speaker 1>standing vertically like a telephone pole. As the saying goes

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<v Speaker 1>water seeks its own level. Gravity and pressure gained by

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<v Speaker 1>flow through the narrowing pipe together naturally propel the liquids

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<v Speaker 1>straight up that pipe until it flies out of a

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<v Speaker 1>sprinkler on the pipes raised tip high in the air,

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<v Speaker 1>the spray encounters atmospheric temperatures in the ballpark of negative

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<v Speaker 1>four degrees fahrenheit that's about negative twenty celsius or lower.

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<v Speaker 1>Before landing, it freezes solid, forming a large cone of

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<v Speaker 1>ice around the vertical pipe. The cone's distinctive shape resembles

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<v Speaker 1>that of a stupa, which are traditional Buddhist prayer monuments

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<v Speaker 1>that have graced Ladoc four thousands of years. Hence, whine

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<v Speaker 1>Chuk and his associates have taken to calling the new

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<v Speaker 1>glacier like structures ice stupas. Laduc's ice stupas melt down

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<v Speaker 1>in late spring, right when the need for liquid water

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<v Speaker 1>is greatest. The prototypical stupa, erected in the winter, contained

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<v Speaker 1>about forty thousand gallons that's about a hundred and fifty

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<v Speaker 1>thousand liters of frozen water, and lasted until May eight.

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<v Speaker 1>Since then, numerous others have been constructed. A single stupa

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<v Speaker 1>has watered as many as five thousand newly planted trees.

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<v Speaker 1>Standing at sixty feet that's eighteen meters tall, it held

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<v Speaker 1>a breathtaking five hundred and thirty thousand gallons that's two

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<v Speaker 1>million liters of frozen water. Others may someday exceed a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred feet about thirty meters in height and hold two

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<v Speaker 1>point six million gallons or ten million liters of water.

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<v Speaker 1>Outside of India, the stupas have spread to countries like Switzerland.

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<v Speaker 1>In twenty sixteen, win Chuk's Icy Brainchild earned him a

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<v Speaker 1>coveted Rollings Award for Enterprise. But ice stupas are not

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<v Speaker 1>without their critics. Win chuk in companies legal right to

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<v Speaker 1>divert glacial melt water has been challenged by a group

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<v Speaker 1>of La Ducky villagers. Furthermore, although the stupas are meant

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<v Speaker 1>to help sustain human life, they won't reverse the Tibetan

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<v Speaker 1>Plateau's worrisome climate trends. But if Homo sapiens is to

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<v Speaker 1>survive on a changing planet, will need to reevaluate the

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<v Speaker 1>ways we use and store water. Projects like this can

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<v Speaker 1>kick start those conversations. Today's episode We're written by Mark

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<v Speaker 1>Vancini and produced by Tyler playing brain Stuff is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radios How stuff Works. For more

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<v Speaker 1>in this and lots of other conversation kickstarting topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And for

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