Figure 1.

Terminus of the Bering Glacier in Alaska, captured by NASA’s Landsat-7 satellite in 1986 (“Bering
Glacier”).

For: Charity Water

By: Jacob Kerby

Contents

Abstract 2

The Global Water Crisis 2

The Importance of Glaciers 2

A Warming Planet 3

The Impact of Melting Glaciers on Water Security 4

Ice Stupas: The Artificial Mini Glaciers 5

The Significance of Artificial Glaciers 6

The Effectiveness of Ice Stupa Projects 6

Alternative Solutions and Limitations 6

Conclusion 7

References 8

Figures
Figure 1. Alaska Bering Glacier Title
Figure 2. Ocean Heat Compared to Average 3
Figure 3. Pederson Glacier: Before and After 4
Figure 4. Ice Stupa Project in Chile 5

1
Abstract
Human life developed during an unusual period of Earth’s history, a period in which there are
glaciers. Throughout the entire history of the planet, glaciers like the one depicted in Figure 1
have only existed on and off for about fifteen percent of the time (Knight p.9). Unfortunately,
it has only been in the last century that scientists have discovered that these ice ages come
and go and much more importantly that humans are likely accelerating the decline of the
current ice age. Pollution generated by industry since the early 1900s has caused an
irreversible rise in temperatures that is leading to an accelerating melting rate of glaciers
from year to year. The effect is devastating to communities that rely on glacial freshwater for
drinking and irrigation. In response, communities are beginning to build ice stupas, a kind of
artificial glacier that can sustain hundreds of thousands of people for months (“As Natural
Glaciers Recede…”).

The Global Water Crisis

The importance of Glaciers

A glacier is a perennial mass of ice formed when snow remains in one area long enough to
transform into ice. They can grow to be hundreds of kilometers long, and they currently
occupy about 10% of the world’s total land area (“What Is a Glacier?”). Although they are
mostly concentrated in the polar regions, glaciers in mountainous regions are some of the
most crucial to human life; They determine the types of crops that can be grown in certain
areas by changing the soil composition, they control atmospheric and ocean circulations,
influencing overall sea level and weather systems across the world, and perhaps most
important of all, they supply drinking and irrigation water to millions of people (Knight p.10).

Glaciers account for approximately 70% of all freshwater stored on the planet. In many parts
of the world, these glaciers serve as reliable water reservoirs to sustain communities through
dry months. The water security they provide is essential to human well-being and
socioeconomic development (Bassetti). Known as the “Water Towers of the World”,
mountain glaciers provide water to lowland regions when meltwater runs downstream
during the hot and dry months. These glacial drainage basins are populated by almost one-
third of the human population (Davies).

A Warming Planet

There is clear evidence that the Earth’s climate is warming at an unprecedented rate and the
connections to human industry are too obvious to ignore. Human activities have been

2
warming the atmosphere for decades, and technological advances are beginning to reveal
the full effects. The global warming trend is attributed by scientists to the greenhouse effect,
in which heat is trapped in the atmosphere by certain gases that block the heat from
escaping. These gases include carbon dioxide, which has increased in atmospheric
concentration by 48% since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution due to the burning of
fossil fuels, methane, which is produced by the decomposition of waste in landfills and
agriculture, and nitrous oxide, which is produced by soil cultivation practices.

The average surface temperature of the planet has risen by roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit
since the end of the 19th century, most of which can be attributed to the last 40 years
(“Climate Change…”), but most of the damage of climate change has yet to be uncovered.
The ocean acts as a heat sink to global warming, as it reacts much slower to a temperature
change than land mass does. As a result, oceans are able to store more than 90% of the total
global heat (“Oceans as a Heat Reservoir”). Although the ocean heat sink helps the overall
climate today, that heat stored in the ocean will continue to circulate until it is eventually
released back into the atmosphere, a process that can take decades. Figure 2 attempts to
show just the massive amount of heat content the ocean has gained over the course of the
last few decades. The resulting situation means that even if world governments were able to
completely stop harmful emissions of any kind, the climate will continue to warm for
generations as heat stored in the ocean gets released back into the atmosphere.

Ocean Heat Compared to Average

Figure 2. Seasonal heat energy content [1022 Joules] in the top half-mile of the ocean relative to the 1955-2006
average (Lindsey).

3
The Impact of Melting Glaciers on Water Security

The world’s warming climate is having drastic effects on major world systems, and these
effects are leading to a massive global glacier recession. Figure 3 clearly depicts how
drastically a single glacier has diminished in the last century. Even if emissions were
significantly diminished in the coming decades, more than a third of the world’s remaining
glaciers are expected to melt before the year 2100 (“Why are Glaciers and Sea Ice Melting”).
This causes great concern for ocean currents, coastal communities, and arctic ecosystems,
but it is also leading to the degradation of a vital natural resource for mountain regions. As
glaciers shrink, meltwater is released from the glacier. Although the accelerated shrinking of
glaciers can create an abundance of river flow for a few years, there is a point called peak
meltwater at which the annual meltwater reaches its maximum and the size of the glacier
becomes too small to continue supporting such a large volume of flow in following years. The
consequences of the abundance of flow created by peak meltwater conditions are seen in
flash flood incidents during summer rains in mountain communities. Meanwhile, the
consequences of post peak meltwater conditions are proving to be even more of a concern.
Not only will this further strain the growing threat of water stresses across the world and
prevent the growth of essential crops, but it also has the potential to create competition for a
scarce resource leading to conflict. If it is not concerning enough that peak meltwater has
already been reached in 45% of the glacier drainage basins (Davies), it is also predicted that
the water demand in some mountain regions will increase by anywhere between 15-53%
within the next decade (Bassetti). The consequences of an accelerated decline of a periodic
ice age will potentially be felt by billions of people across the world in the coming years.

Pedersen Glacier: Before and After

2005

1930
Figure 3. The perspective of the Pedersen Glacier, Alaska, captured in the 1930s on the left and in 2005 on the right
(“These Before and After Photos…”).

4
Ice Stupas: The Artificial Mini-Glaciers
As glaciers recede, people in mountain communities are turning to artificial methods to store
water into the summer. In 2013, engineer Sonam Wangchuk, invented the first ice stupa as a
solution for extreme droughts in India’s Ladakh Valley. The project began when Wangchuk
noticed that even at a low altitude at the height of summer, ice would stay frozen in the shade
of a bridge. Although it would be impractical to shade large sheets of ice, such as perennial
glaciers, a tall mound of ice would be able to shade its own interior. Furthermore, when
placed in a mountain valley, this tall mound of ice would receive additional shade from the
mountain range itself. This conclusion led Wangchuk to begin constructing ice stupas, or
cone-shaped mounds of ice in several villages across the Ladakh Valley. The stupa, depicted
in Figure 4, can be simply created by routing a stream down a mountain through a nozzle
during the below freezing temperatures at night. Depending on the size and location of the
stupa, they can potentially last the entire dry season (Kumar-Rao).

Ice Stupa Project in Chile

Figure 4. Ice Stupa project in Chile inspired by the original project founded in the Ladakh Valley in India (“As
Natural Glaciers Recede…”).

5
The Significance of Artificial Glaciers
The Effectiveness of Ice Stupa Projects

The original Ice Stupa created by Sonam Wangchuk in the Ladakh Valley of India was a
milestone project towards easing water security for communities that rely on glaciers. The
first stupa constructed in November of 2013 was approximately 20 feet high, held 40,000
gallons of water, and supplied water to the Ladakh village until May of 2014 (Kumar-Rao).
Since the stupas are so easily constructed without any advanced technology during winter
months, villages across the world are beginning to take advantage of the solution. A team of
climate experts in Chile are expecting to build a series of 50 ice stupas, which have the
potential to store more than 25 million gallons of water to sustain up to 100,000 people for
three months (“As Natural Glaciers Recede…”). The largest stupa constructed in a 2019
competition provided irrigation water to four villages with nearly two million gallons of
stored water. The stupas that are able to survive the summer months have the potential to
grow during the following winter and year after year, becoming a perennial glacier of its own.
The result is a solution that could potentially replace the need for natural glaciers entirely
and may be crucial in the coming decades as the climate continues to warm and the world’s
current ice age draws to a close.

Alternative Solutions and Limitations

Around a decade before Sonam Wangchuk, another Indian engineer attempted to bring water
security to the Ladakh Valley. His solution involved a network of pipes that diverted
meltwater into artificial lakes on the shaded sides of the mountains. A series of 11 water
reservoirs were constructed to supply water to 10,000 people. However, the problem is that
this solution could not be replicated at lower altitudes and therefore was not practical for
most villages. Another seemingly obvious solution would be to build dams in vulnerable
areas, similar to the ones that supply water to large, developed cities across the world. The
issue with this solution is that evaporation, the process which would transfer water from its
liquid state in the dam to a gaseous state in the atmosphere, occurs much more quickly than
sublimation, which is the process which would transfer the water in its frozen solid state in a
glacier or ice stupa to a gaseous state in the atmosphere. Therefore, even though dams may
work in developed areas where water can be processed or gathered from other sources, it is
not a viable solution for many regions across the world (Lovett).

A different perspective on the issue would be to provide a solution to melting glaciers by

slowing climate change to preserve natural glaciers rather than attempting to find a way to
replace them. However, there are a couple problems with this approach. The first is that

6
corporations tend to make decisions that are in the best financial interest to their companies.
Most often, the convenient route for mass-production industries is to continue using cheap
energy sources, including the burning of fossil fuels that pollute the environment. Therefore,
it is likely that the only way to reach net zero emissions would be for world governments to
impose very strict and relegated conservations laws. Such a process would take a long time,
which is time that natural glaciers do not have. The other issue with this approach is the
problem of the ocean heat sink discussed before. Over 90% of the damage to the
environment caused by human endeavors has yet to even be realized because the energy is
being stored in the ocean and will not be released for years to come. Therefore, even if there
was a possibility that the world reach net zero emissions at this very instant, the climate
would continue to be affected for decades.

That being said, there is a chance that ice stupas are not the most practical permanent
solution. The construction of ice stupas in present day are still relying on river flow created by
glacier meltwater at mountain peaks. Even though ice stupas may be able to help
communities sustain through dry months right now, there is no guarantee that those ice
stupas will last as glaciers continue to melt. The hope with ice stupa projects across the world
is to construct ice stupas that can last through the entire summer months in order to rebuild
in the winter year after year, effectively creating a new perennial glacier.

Conclusion
The consequences of global climate change have been realized at a time that is probably far
too late for many ecosystems in our world. The effects of it will likely threaten water security
for millions of people who rely on freshwater from natural glaciers. Glaciers are melting fast,
and the amount of water they supply to communities is diminishing at an alarming rate. The
amount of rainfall in some regions is not nearly enough to sustain people through hot and dry
months, so it is imperative that a solution is found. A promising venture has begun in recent
years in developing mountain villages, where the construction of artificial glaciers, known as
ice stupas, have the ability to store and provide water to thousands of people for several
months. There is a high chance that natural glaciers as we know them will not survive the
onslaught of climate change over the coming decades, but ice stupas provide a sign of hope
for small villages.

7
References
“As Natural Glaciers Recede, Some Communities Are Building Their Own.” Smithsonian.com,
Smithsonian Institution, 8 Nov. 2021, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-
communities-are-building-their-own-glaciers-as-natural-ones-recede-180979021/.

Bassetti, Francesco. “Water Scarcity: Glaciers Sound The Alarm.” Foresight, 3 Aug. 2021,
https://www.climateforesight.eu/water-food/glaciers-melt-water-security-is-under-threat/.

“Bering Glacier, Alaska.” NASA, NASA, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/4710/bering-glacier-

alaska.

“Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” NASA, NASA, https://climate.nasa.gov/.

Davies, Bethan. “Glaciers as a Water Resource.” AntarcticGlaciers.org, 4 Feb. 2022,

https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glaciers-and-climate/glacier-recession/glaciers-as-a-water-
resource/.

Knight, Peter. Glacier. Reaktion Books, 2019.

Kumar-Rao, Arati. “One Way to Fight Climate Change: Make Your Own Glaciers.” Magazine, National
Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/one-way-to-fight-
climate-change-make-your-own-glaciers-perpetual-feature.

Lindsey, LuAnn Dahlman and Rebecca. “Climate Change: Ocean Heat Content.” Climate Change: Ocean
Heat Content | NOAA Climate.gov, https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-
climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-content.

Lovett, Richard A. “Melting Glaciers Mean Double Trouble for Water Supplies.” Science, National
Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/1112-melting-
glaciers-mean-double-trouble-for-water-supplies.

“Oceans as a Heat Reservoir.” AstroEDU, https://astroedu.iau.org/en/activities/1630/oceans-as-a-heat-

reservoir/#:~:text=Oceans%20as%20a%20heat%20sink&text=Oceans%20act%20as%20a%20heat,
global%20heat%20(Figure%201).

“These before and after Photos Show How Glaciers in the US Are Melting.” The Dream Within Pictures
RSS, http://thedreamwithinpictures.com/blog/these-before-and-after-photos-show-how-glaciers-in-
the-us-are-melting.

“What Is a Glacier?” National Snow and Ice Data Center,

https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/what.html.

“Why Are Glaciers and Sea Ice Melting?” WWF, World Wildlife Fund,
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/why-are-glaciers-and-sea-ice-
melting#:~:text=Human%20activities%20are%20at%20the,sea%20and%20retreating%20on%20la
nd.