China Humiliated as First Images of Olympics Courses Show Hideous Landscape and Fake Snow

[艹艹艹]

Olympic skiers and snowboarders are competing on 100% fake snow – the science of how it’s made and how it affects performance​

February 8, 2022 5.14pm GMT

The winter Olympics conjure up images of snowy mountain ranges, frozen ice rinks and athletes in cold-weather gear. And for good reason. Winter Olympic venues have often been in places that receive an average snowfall of 300 inches per year or more.

However, barring some extremely anomalous weather patterns, the mountains surrounding the snow events for the Beijing Winter Olympics will be tones of brown and green and nearly devoid of snow. The region typically receives only a few inches of snowfall in each winter month. This means that basically all of the snow the athletes will be competing on will be human-made.

I am an atmospheric scientist who specializes in mountain weather and snow. I am also the founder of a snowmaking startup and an avid skier. There are distinct differences between natural and artificial snow, and it will be interesting to see if these differences have any effect on competition.

HOW TO MAKE FAKE SNOW​

Though artificial snow and natural snow are both frozen water, most skiers and snowboarders are able to immediately recognize that the two are very different.

Traditional snowmaking uses high pressure water, compressed air and specialized nozzles to blow tiny liquid droplets into the air that then freeze as they fall to the ground. But snowmaking is not as simple as just making sure the air is sufficiently cold.

Pure water does not freeze until it is cooled to nearly -40 F (-40 C). It is only the presence of microscopic suspended particles in water that allow it to freeze at the familiar 32 F (0 C). These particles, known as ice nuclei, act as a sort of scaffolding to help ice crystals form.

Without these particles, water struggles to turn into ice. Different particles can raise or lower freezing temperatures depending on their specific molecular configuration.

Two of the best ice nuclei are silver iodide and a protein produced by the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae. Most snowmaking systems add a commercial form of the bacterial protein to water to ensure most of the tiny droplets freeze before they hit the ground.


Skiers and snowboarders in downhill racing events, like U.S. Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin, often prefer the harder, faster artificial snow over natural snow. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Sliding on human-made snow​

Natural snow starts as a tiny ice crystal on an ice nucleus in a cloud. As the crystal falls through the air, it slowly grows into the classic six-sided snowflake.

By comparison, human-made snow freezes quickly from a single droplet of water. The resulting snow consists of billions of tiny spherical balls of ice. It may resemble natural snow to the naked eye on a ski run, but the natural and artificial snow “feel” very different.

Due to the fact that the tiny ice balls pack together quite densely—and that some of them may have not frozen until they touched the ground—artificial snow often feels hard and icy. Fresh natural “powder” snow, on the other hand, provides skiers and snowboarders an almost weightless feeling as they soar down the mountainside. This is largely because the natural snow crystals stack very loosely—a fresh layer of powder is as much as 95% or more air.

While fresh powder is what most recreational skiers dream of, Olympic skiers have different tastes. Racers want to be able to glide as fast as possible and use their sharp edges to make powerful, tight turns. The dense, icy conditions of artificial snow are actually better in these regards. In fact, race organizers often add liquid water to race courses of natural snow which will freeze and ensure a durable, consistent surface for racers.

Another consideration is the fact that natural snowstorms produce dull, flat lighting and low visibility—hard conditions to race or jump in. Heavy natural snowfall will often cancel ski races, as happened during the snowy 1998 Nagano Games. For racers, clear skies and artificial snow provide the advantage there, too.

But hard human-made snow does have its downsides. Freestyle skiers and snowboarders who are flying off jumps or sliding on rails high above the ground seem to prefer the softer surface of natural snow for safety reasons. This is also true of Nordic skiers, who recently flagged the dangers of artificial snow in the event of crashes as icy, hard surfaces can lead to more injuries.


Natural snowflakes grow slowly into six-sided crystals that are full of air when they pile up on the ground. Alexey Kljatov via WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA

MIMICKING NATURE​

While Olympic athletes have mixed needs for their snow, for the vast majority of recreational skiers, natural snow is far better. Due to the air-filled crystals, it is much softer and more enjoyable to ski or snowboard on.

Scientists have been trying for decades to create more natural snow on demand. The first way that people tried to make “real” snow was by seeding natural clouds with silver iodide. The goal was to facilitate moisture in clouds turning into falling snow crystals. If you could make this process—called the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process—occur more easily, it would theoretically increase the snowfall rate.

In practice, it has historically been difficult to prove the efficacy of seeding. However, recent work using large, meticulously deployed sets of atmospheric instruments has shown that—for a fraction of storms with the proper conditions—seeding clouds with silver iodide does indeed yield modest increases in the total amount of snowfall.

Another option—which doesn’t require storm clouds to seed in the first place—is to create snowmaking machines that can grow fluffy natural snow crystals. Scientists have been growing snowflakes in laboratories for many decades, but the process is delicate, and typically researchers only produce a few flakes at a time. Because ice crystals typically grow slowly, it has been tricky for researchers to scale the process up by the many orders of magnitude needed to grow enough snow for skiing. But in a quest to produce fluffy powder for skiers and snowboarders, my colleague Trey Alvey and I developed a process that can produce snowflakes in larger quantities using a technique that mimics the natural crystal formation process. We’re commercializing it through our company called Quantum Snow.

The dry, barren mountains hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic venues are not exactly a skiing destination. But thanks to snowmaking science, the athletes will have reliable, if icy, runs to compete on. And sports fans can all be thankful for the technology that allows them to enjoy the high-speed spectacle put on by the brave souls who compete in the skiing and snowboarding events.

 

[Zarrar Alvi]

China Humiliated as First Images of Olympics Courses Show Hideous Landscape and Fake Snow
View attachment 809688

The Chinese government is attempting to perpetuate a snow job on the world — literally.

With the Beijing Winter Olympics set to begin in less than three weeks in one of the driest parts of China, and a lack of snow has organizers humiliated and racing to coat ski runs with man-made snow.

The white patches of snow — fabricated and natural — contrasting against the arid region’s brown mountains are but the latest headache for a Chinese government already dealing with pandemic-related challenges impacting the winter games of the 24th Olympiad, including the more contagious but apparently less-virulent omicron variant of the virus that is fueling infections globally.

China is battling multiple coronavirus outbreaks in at least a half-dozen cities, with the government doubling down on its “zero-tolerance” COVID-19 policy that has more than 20 million people in some form of lockdown across the country, with many prevented from leaving their homes.

Strict containment measures are planned for the Beijing Olympics — including fans being asked to clap instead of shouting or singing — as a means of keeping the virus under control.

Speaking of fans, the quadrennial sporting event meant to bring nations together will ironically be a decidedly Chinese-only affair because spectators from overseas won’t be allowed due to the pandemic.

As for the made-in-China snow, the artificial white stuff is created by local reservoirs feeding into an army of “snow guns” which mix the water with compressed air to create the snow, which is then spread over various course elements by an array of workers.

An International Olympic Committee evaluation report said Zhangjiakou and Yanqing — the zones hosting alpine skiing, snowboarding and other outdoor events — “would rely completely on artificial snow,” according to a report from France 24, a state-owned international news television network based in Paris.

The report itself states Beijing “underestimated the amount of water that would be needed for snowmaking for the Games” and “overestimated the ability to recapture water used for snowmaking.”

While creating the snow is relatively easy, its cost could be harder to bear. Water shortages may be exacerbated by having a reported 49 million of gallons stripped from reserves for an event government officials hope will burnish the image of China, the nation where COVID-19 originated and spread to the rest of the world.

A study conducted last year and published in Nature concluded that groundwater has been badly depleted in northern China related to urbanization and irrigation, leading to water shortages for local residents.

The prospect of further water shortages due to the Olympics casts doubt on China’s claim the games will be “green.”

Olympic athletes themselves seemed decidedly less concerned about the artificial snow, which has been a reality since the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

“The snow is going to be similar to Russia and similar to PyeongChang in the 2018 Olympics. They both had artificial snow in parts,” British snowboarder Charlotte Bankes told the Daily Mail.

“As riders we need to adapt,” she continued, “but we have all been here before.”

Nevertheless, several people expressed concerns over the environmental and human cost to creating fake snow for the Olympics.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1481258895653834753

China Humiliated as First Images of Olympics Courses Show Hideous Landscape and Fake Snow

The Chinese government is attempting to perpetuate a snow job on the world -- literally. With the Beijing Winter Olympics

ijr.com

You see a snake or a western Propagandist kill them on the spot they are venemous. And their propoganda usually match the mahabharat era fictional Stuff .

 

[艹艹艹]

Olympic skiers and snowboarders are competing on 100% fake snow – the science of how it’s made and how it affects performance​

February 8, 2022 5.14pm GMT

The winter Olympics conjure up images of snowy mountain ranges, frozen ice rinks and athletes in cold-weather gear. And for good reason. Winter Olympic venues have often been in places that receive an average snowfall of 300 inches per year or more.

However, barring some extremely anomalous weather patterns, the mountains surrounding the snow events for the Beijing Winter Olympics will be tones of brown and green and nearly devoid of snow. The region typically receives only a few inches of snowfall in each winter month. This means that basically all of the snow the athletes will be competing on will be human-made.

I am an atmospheric scientist who specializes in mountain weather and snow. I am also the founder of a snowmaking startup and an avid skier. There are distinct differences between natural and artificial snow, and it will be interesting to see if these differences have any effect on competition.

HOW TO MAKE FAKE SNOW​

Though artificial snow and natural snow are both frozen water, most skiers and snowboarders are able to immediately recognize that the two are very different.

Traditional snowmaking uses high pressure water, compressed air and specialized nozzles to blow tiny liquid droplets into the air that then freeze as they fall to the ground. But snowmaking is not as simple as just making sure the air is sufficiently cold.

Pure water does not freeze until it is cooled to nearly -40 F (-40 C). It is only the presence of microscopic suspended particles in water that allow it to freeze at the familiar 32 F (0 C). These particles, known as ice nuclei, act as a sort of scaffolding to help ice crystals form.

Without these particles, water struggles to turn into ice. Different particles can raise or lower freezing temperatures depending on their specific molecular configuration.

Two of the best ice nuclei are silver iodide and a protein produced by the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae. Most snowmaking systems add a commercial form of the bacterial protein to water to ensure most of the tiny droplets freeze before they hit the ground.


Skiers and snowboarders in downhill racing events, like U.S. Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin, often prefer the harder, faster artificial snow over natural snow. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Sliding on human-made snow​

Natural snow starts as a tiny ice crystal on an ice nucleus in a cloud. As the crystal falls through the air, it slowly grows into the classic six-sided snowflake.

By comparison, human-made snow freezes quickly from a single droplet of water. The resulting snow consists of billions of tiny spherical balls of ice. It may resemble natural snow to the naked eye on a ski run, but the natural and artificial snow “feel” very different.

Due to the fact that the tiny ice balls pack together quite densely—and that some of them may have not frozen until they touched the ground—artificial snow often feels hard and icy. Fresh natural “powder” snow, on the other hand, provides skiers and snowboarders an almost weightless feeling as they soar down the mountainside. This is largely because the natural snow crystals stack very loosely—a fresh layer of powder is as much as 95% or more air.

While fresh powder is what most recreational skiers dream of, Olympic skiers have different tastes. Racers want to be able to glide as fast as possible and use their sharp edges to make powerful, tight turns. The dense, icy conditions of artificial snow are actually better in these regards. In fact, race organizers often add liquid water to race courses of natural snow which will freeze and ensure a durable, consistent surface for racers.

Another consideration is the fact that natural snowstorms produce dull, flat lighting and low visibility—hard conditions to race or jump in. Heavy natural snowfall will often cancel ski races, as happened during the snowy 1998 Nagano Games. For racers, clear skies and artificial snow provide the advantage there, too.

But hard human-made snow does have its downsides. Freestyle skiers and snowboarders who are flying off jumps or sliding on rails high above the ground seem to prefer the softer surface of natural snow for safety reasons. This is also true of Nordic skiers, who recently flagged the dangers of artificial snow in the event of crashes as icy, hard surfaces can lead to more injuries.


Natural snowflakes grow slowly into six-sided crystals that are full of air when they pile up on the ground. Alexey Kljatov via WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA

MIMICKING NATURE​

While Olympic athletes have mixed needs for their snow, for the vast majority of recreational skiers, natural snow is far better. Due to the air-filled crystals, it is much softer and more enjoyable to ski or snowboard on.

Scientists have been trying for decades to create more natural snow on demand. The first way that people tried to make “real” snow was by seeding natural clouds with silver iodide. The goal was to facilitate moisture in clouds turning into falling snow crystals. If you could make this process—called the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process—occur more easily, it would theoretically increase the snowfall rate.

In practice, it has historically been difficult to prove the efficacy of seeding. However, recent work using large, meticulously deployed sets of atmospheric instruments has shown that—for a fraction of storms with the proper conditions—seeding clouds with silver iodide does indeed yield modest increases in the total amount of snowfall.

Another option—which doesn’t require storm clouds to seed in the first place—is to create snowmaking machines that can grow fluffy natural snow crystals. Scientists have been growing snowflakes in laboratories for many decades, but the process is delicate, and typically researchers only produce a few flakes at a time. Because ice crystals typically grow slowly, it has been tricky for researchers to scale the process up by the many orders of magnitude needed to grow enough snow for skiing. But in a quest to produce fluffy powder for skiers and snowboarders, my colleague Trey Alvey and I developed a process that can produce snowflakes in larger quantities using a technique that mimics the natural crystal formation process. We’re commercializing it through our company called Quantum Snow.

The dry, barren mountains hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic venues are not exactly a skiing destination. But thanks to snowmaking science, the athletes will have reliable, if icy, runs to compete on. And sports fans can all be thankful for the technology that allows them to enjoy the high-speed spectacle put on by the brave souls who compete in the skiing and snowboarding events.

Chinese researchers develop snowmaking technologies for 2022 Winter Olympics​