Ice Stupa Basics

Technical Details

Traditional Stone Stupas were built from stone sometimes with a metal piece on top. 

Recently a new version was developed: "The ice stupa is created using no power or pumps, only physics: "the ingredients are a downstream, an upstream and a gradient," says Wangchuk.

First, a pipe is laid [around 4ft/1.22meters] underground [beneath the freeze line], connecting a stream of water and the location where the ice stupa is required, usually next to a village. The water must come from a higher altitude, usually around 60 meters or more.

Because a fluid in a system always wants to maintain its level, water from 60 meters upstream will spray 60 meters into the air out of the downstream pipe, creating a fountain.

The freezing air temperature does the rest, immediately crystallizing the water droplets into ice that falls right below, forming a cone.

"A cone is very easy to make with ice, because any dripping naturally forms a cone underneath -- icicles are inverted cones," says Wangchuk.

But a cone has more desirable properties: "It has minimal exposed surface area for the volume of water it contains."

That means it melts very slowly: the prototype, 20 feet tall and containing 150,000 liters of water, lasted from winter until mid-May, just when water is needed for irrigation, while all the surrounding ice on the ground had gone by the end of March." - CNN: Ice Stupa Sonam Wangchuk

Resources

Some of these are listed under specific regions in which the studies were done, and for the cultures or political issues of that specific area, however they may be worth looking over for clues in how to approach or deal with studies, construction, and diplomacy in projects elsewhere in the world.

Asia

India

Ladakh

• Giving Water Its Place: Artificial Glaciers and the Politics of Place in a High-Altitude Himalayan Village

• Impact of Ice Stupa in Mitigating The Obstacles to Agriculture in Ladakh (PDF)

Organizations

International

• The GlaciersAlive Association "is a group of committed people from science, research, communication and administration who work for sustainable solutions to water issues.
  
  We are both an international organization and a group of local actors. Together we can achieve positive developments in our own environment and worldwide.
  
  In order for the mountain regions to fulfill their role as water castles for large parts of the world's population,
  the interactions between water - agriculture and tourism can be optimally cultivated through effective projects.
  
  Learn more about the specific projects in which our association GlaciersAlive is involved in the overview of our projects."

• Ice Stupa International Association "This year, we are starting with an Ice Stupa Village close to the Morteratsch railway station. This is a project where everybody – private individuals, institutions -can build their own stupa. The aim is to raise public awareness to the problems." - MortAlive Project Bringing Ice Stupas from the Himalayas into the Alps

Asia

India

Ladakh

• The Ice Stupa Project 

• Ice Stupa Artificial Glacier (facebook page)

Europe

Switzerland

• MortAlive "Glacier shrinkage is a major topic in Switzerland, but also worldwide. In Central Asia (Himalayas) and South America (Andes) in particular, dwindling glacier masses are creating threatening conditions for water supplies. According to a study recently published by glaciologist Hamish D. Pritchard in the scientific journal "Nature", up to 221 million people in the Himalayan region will be directly affected by a shortage of drinking water within a few decades. Covering the glaciers there with snow could greatly delay melting.
  
  A delay of up to 50 years could be possible thanks to MortAlive - or to the #gkb2020 commitment of Graubündner Kantonalbank." (Instagram)

South America

Chile

• The Nilus Project "During 2021 we held our first Ice Stupa in Parque Arenas in San José de Maipo."

Stand Alone or Complimentary

The following can capture and redirect water on their own, but could also be used in conjunction with ice stupas to passively transport water to necessary locations, instead of wasting energy or other resources on pumps.

Berms & Swales

Key Lines

Tools & Resources

How-To Guides for Building Ice Stupas

• The Ice Stupa Artificial Glaciers - A Dessert-Greening Technique (PDF) includes photos of the process, and links to related resources.

• Ice stupas: The Artificial Glaciers Helping Combat the Effects of Climate Change This page includes a step-by-step image guide.

Landscaping Apps

While this doesn't related directly to ice stupas, the techniques may be beneficial lower down, slowing the collected water to help benefit the landscape with the collected water from the stupas as well as yearly precipitation.

• Greener LAND "This tool helps you decide which landscape interventions are best suited towards landscape restoration for the landscape you operate in. Start by selecting the characteristics of your landscape on your left."

Organizations

International

NGO Supplying Company

Africa

Asia

USA

• Watershed Management Group. (Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona). Offers classes, a “water harvesting coop” and more.

Oceana

South America

Maps

Grants & Funding

Companies

International

• Bächler Top Track AG "is a worldwide provider of custom-built solutions in the field of snow processing and snowmaking. The high-quality products and in-house expertise have made Bächler well-known in the world. To achieve and enlarge this image, it is aspired an always higher customer satisfaction and it sets a high value on the performance, quality and energy-efficiency of the products. "