Glacier growing
Encyclopedia
Glacier growing, or glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 grafting
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...

, is a practice native to the Northern Areas of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 aimed at creating new glaciers. 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
Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

-slope. Along with the ice other ingredients such as water, salt, sawdust, wheat husks and charcoal are also placed at the site. The use of glacier grafting is an old skill of the mountain farmers of Baltistan
Baltistan
Baltistan , also known as بلتیول བལིུལ་ in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan which forms Gilgit-Baltistan, bordering the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. In addition, a part of Baltistan also falls into Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains...

 and Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...

, where it is used for irrigation purposes since at least the 19th century. This technique was described by Lieutenant David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer
David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer
Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer was a member of the British Indian Army, a political official in the British Indian government and a noted linguist...

 (1876–1962) in the 1920s. Allegedly glacier grafting also has been used to block mountain pass
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

es.

Background

In the Northern Areas of Pakistan water is the limiting factor of agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and many farmers experience scarcity of water in late fall - a period critical to the maturation of crops. Farmers living in watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

s without glaciers are especially vulnerable since they largely depend on snowmelt 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

Before a glacier grafting is attempted a suitable place has to be scouted. The preferred terrain, according to glacier growers in Baltistan and Gilgit, is in shadowed scree-slopes overlooked by steep headwall
Headwall
In physical geography and geology the headwall of a glacial cirque is its highest cliff.In civil engineering, a headwall is a small retaining wall placed at the outlet of a stormwater pipe or culvert....

s. Commonly the sites are located between 4000-5000 m a.s.l
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

. Such locations are susceptible to snowfall and avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...

s during winter and spring, creating a good environment for 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 2000-3000 meters above sea level) up to the site selected for the glacier growing.

Similar effort is carried out by Chewang Norphel, in adjacent Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

region.
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