Map of Mongolia (click to enlarge). Source: CIA World Factbook
Predictions that global climate change will lead to more extreme weather patterns have not been lost on the arid, landlocked nation of Mongolia. Beginning this month, this sparsely populated country of 3.1 million is embarking on a unique experiment to address the effects of a warming climate.
With its legendary harsh dry winters and short, hot summers, Mongolia is already a land of temperature extremes.
In the southern part of the country, temperatures in the Gobi Desert soar to searing summertime highs of 104° F (40° C) and drop to deadly, wintertime lows of -40° F (-40° C). To the north, the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, has the distinction of being the coldest capital city in the world, with an average annual temperature of 31° F (-0.5° C).
Mongolia’s grand experiment is built upon turning its extreme temperature differentials into an advantage, by growing ice in winter that cools in summer.
Mongolia's capital, Ulan Bator, population 1.2 million.
This winter, as ice forms on the Tuul river flowing through Ulan Bator, engineers will drill holes to the unfrozen water beneath. When brought to the surface, the water will freeze, thus building a thicker block of ice than would occur naturally. As temperatures rise in the spring and summer, the thicker ice will take longer to melt and provide a localized cooling effect.
The process is based upon one that occurs in nature, when an incoming river flow is sufficient to work its way through cracks in surface ice during the warmth of day and freeze during cooler nighttimes. The thick blocks of ice that result are known as naleds.
Although current and near-term effects of global warming are often focused on island nations at risk from rising sea levels, landlocked Mongolia faces its own threats.
Gobi Desert.
As average temperature has risen in the last half-century, rainfall has become more erratic, and the Gobi Desert is moving northward. Mountain glaciers are melting, and lakes that have not already dried up are vastly diminished, making freshwater increasingly scarce in a land where annual rainfall averages only 21 cm (8 in.).
If Mongolia’s innovative climate intervention proves successful, it may provide an environmentally-friendly model for addressing climate change in other cities located in northern latitudes.
