沙漠里的冰塔
In the far north of India, a cold mountain desert is the stunning backdrop to an unprecedented icy structure.
在印度遥远的北部，寒冷的山地沙漠成为了一个前所未有的冰雪结构的惊人背景。
This is a land of extremes, where rainfall is scarce and temperatures range wildly from torrid to far below freezing.
这是一个极端的地方，雨量稀少，气温变化很大，从酷热到远低于冰点。
The locals say it's the only place in the world where a man, sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade, can suffer sunstroke and frostbite at the same time.
当地人说，这是世界上唯一一个男人坐在阳光下，双脚却在树荫下，会同时遭受中暑和冻伤的地方。
It's the Ladakh region -- meaning "land of high passes" -- sandwiched between two of the world's tallest mountain ranges, the Himalayas and the Kunlun.
这是拉达克地区——意为“通衢之地”——夹在世界上最高的两座山脉之间，喜马拉雅山和昆仑山脉。
Rainfall is rare here.
这里罕有降雨。
Water, essential for irrigating the farmlands that are the lifeblood of the local population, mostly comes from melting snow and ice.
水是灌溉农田的必需品，是当地人口的命脉，但它们主要来自冰雪融化。
But climate change is making this land even drier, leaving farmers without water in the crucial planting months of April and May, right before the glaciers start to melt in the summer sun.
但是气候变化使这片土地更加干旱，使得农民在关键的种植季节——4月和5月——没有水，而此时正是冰川开始在夏季的阳光下融化的时候。
One man's solution to the problem?
那人们如何解决这个问题呢？
Make more glaciers.
造更多的冰川。
In 2014 a local mechanical engineer, Sonam Wangchuk, set out to solve the water crisis of the Ladakh.
2014年，当地的一位机械工程师索纳姆·旺楚克着手解决拉达克地区的水危机。
The natural glaciers are shrinking due to rising global temperatures.
由于全球气温上升，自然冰川正在缩小。
For that reason, they provide far less water in early spring but then release a lot in the summer heat, shrinking even more.
因此，它们在早春时提供的水分要少得多，但在夏季会大量释放热量，收缩得更厉害。
Wangchuk had a simple idea: he wanted to balance this natural deficit by collecting water from melting snow and ice in the cold months, which would normally go to waste, and store it until spring, just when farmers need it the most.
旺楚克有一个简单的想法:他想通过在寒冷的月份收集融雪和冰的水来平衡这种自然的不足，这些水通常会被浪费掉，如今他们把水储存起来直到春天，农民们最需要的时候。
"I once saw ice under a bridge in May and understood that it's the sun that makes the ice melt, not ambient temperature," he told us.
他告诉我们:“5月份我曾在一座桥下看到过冰，我开始明白是太阳使冰融化，而不是环境温度。”
"I realized that ice can last a long time, even at low altitudes."
“我意识到冰其实可以保持很长时间，即使在低海拔地区。”
He then built a two-story prototype of an "ice stupa", a cone of ice that he named after the traditional mound-like sacred monuments that are found throughout Asia.
然后，他建造了一座两层楼高的“冰塔”原型，这是一个圆锥形的冰塔，他以遍布亚洲的传统的类似于山的神圣纪念碑来命名。
The ice stupa is created using no power or pumps, only physics: "the ingredients are a downstream, an upstream and a gradient," says Wangchuk.
这座冰塔不需要动力或水泵，只需要物理原理:“原料就是下游、上游和梯度，”旺楚克说。
First, a pipe is laid underground, connecting a stream of water and the location where the ice stupa is required, usually next to a village.
首先，在地下铺设管道，连接一条溪流和需要冰塔的地方，通常在村庄旁边。
The water must come from a higher altitude, usually around 60 meters or more.
水必须来自更高的海拔，通常在60米左右或更高。
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.
因为一个系统中的流体总是想要保持它的水平，来自60米上游的水会从下游管道中喷射60米到空气中，形成一个喷泉。
The freezing air temperature does the rest, immediately crystallizing the water droplets into ice that falls right below, forming a cone.
凝固性的空气温度完成了剩下的部分，立即将水滴结晶成正好落在正下方的冰，就形成了一个圆锥体。
"A cone is very easy to make with ice, because any dripping naturally forms a cone underneath -- icicles are inverted cones," says Wangchuk.
汪楚克说:“用冰很容易做成锥形，因为任何水滴都会在下面自然形成一个锥形——冰柱就是倒立的锥形。”
But a cone has more desirable properties: "It has minimal exposed surface area for the volume of water it contains."
但圆锥有更理想的性质:“它在包含同体积的水的情况下有着最小的暴露表面积。”
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.
这意味着它的融化速度会非常缓慢:20英尺高、装有15万升水的模型可以从冬天一直持续到5月中旬，这正好是灌溉用水的时候，而3月底时，周围地面上的冰已经全部融化了。
Because of the piping infrastructure required, the initial investment can be steep.
由于需要管道基础设施，初期投资可能会很高。
Wangchuck estimated he would need around $125,000 to build his first full-scale version, which could reach 80 feet in height and provide irrigation to about 10 hectares of land: "It was too radical for any government to support, but I knew the people of the world would back it," he says.
旺楚克估计他需要约125000美元建造他的第一个全面的版本,这将达到80英尺高度和提供灌溉约10公顷的土地:“这个计划太激进，恐怕任何政府也没法支持,但我知道世界人民会支持它,”他说。
He decided to crowdfund the project, asking people for contributions through Indiegogo, a popular crowdfunding platform.
他决定众筹这个项目，通过众筹平台Indiegogo向人们征集捐款。
The campaign was successful and piqued the interest of the local institutions: "Now that the idea has been proven, the Ladhaki government is incorporating it its development plans."
这场运动很成功，激起了当地机构的兴趣:“现在这个想法已经被证明，拉达基政府正在把它纳入自己的发展计划。”
The ice stupa also netted Wangchuk a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2016, which carried a 100,000 Swiss Franc prize (around $105,000).
2016年，旺楚克还获得了劳力士企业奖，奖金10万瑞士法郎(约合10.5万美元)。
But Wangchuk also dreams of turning the stupas into tourist attractions, by building ice bars and ice hotels inside them: "It will be an exclusive experience for people who are willing to pay for it, and the money will support the water for the farmers eliminating the shortage in the spring, which is what every farmer fears," he says.
但汪楚克还梦想着把这座冰塔变成一个旅游景点，可以在里面建冰吧和冰旅馆：“对于那些愿意花钱的人们来说将是一种独特的体验，而这笔钱又会帮助那些农民们缓解春季缺水的情况，这里每个农民都在愁这件事。”他说道。
This might sound a bit like mixing the sacred and the profane, but Wangchuk thinks the ice stupa itself is a bridge between different cultures.
这听起来可能有点像把神圣和世俗混合在一起，但旺楚克认为冰塔本身就是不同文化之间的桥梁。
"We wanted to integrate traditional practices and beliefs with innovative technology, because climate change cannot be handled by engineering alone," he says.
他说:“我们想把传统的做法和信念与创新技术结合起来，因为气候变化不能单靠工程来解决。”
"We have to join forces."
“我们必须联合起来。”
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