This winter, Beijing has not had a snowfall so far, and the first snowfall this winter, which was expected to arrive in recent days, has broken its promise again. But some ice rinks would rather make snow than hold ice carnivals. Beijing Youth Daily reporter investigation found that many ice and snow fields in Beijing closed down or in a semi closed state because of the high temperature. The major snow farms that insist on business have shown new ways: to break up the hard snow, and use new equipment that can make snow at zero degrees centigrade to add snow to the snow farms.
Bird's nest happy ice and snow season: the opening of the home stadium is delayed and the snow piles are scattered at night
On December 25 last year, the bird's nest was open for field trial operation during the happy ice and snow season. Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned from the organizer that since Beijing entered the winter, the temperature has been on the high side, so it is difficult for the snow maker to work normally. Part of the main stadium of the ice and snow season originally planned to open yesterday failed to open as scheduled due to the low coverage of artificial snow. The organizers have no choice but to say that "no snow" is the biggest problem facing the ice and snow season.
According to the staff, there are two snow makers in the outfield of the bird's nest, but they can only make snow normally when the temperature is below minus 23 ℃ and the air humidity is low. The temperature is high in the daytime these days. Yesterday, the highest temperature even reached 6 degrees Celsius. The temperature only dropped after 1 o'clock at night, but the temperature is still not low enough, so the snow maker has not been able to make snow normally.
But not making snow doesn't affect the enthusiasm of tourists. More than 2000 tourists came to the bird's nest last weekend to play with snow. Many tourists told the organizers that the quality of snow this year was much worse, and the staff could only scatter the snow mounds that tourists stepped on during the day at night to make the snow more fluffy. Last weekend, the temperature was low for two days, so the staff seized the time to start the snow maker, but only a little snow was produced because of the high humidity. At present, the artificial snow coverage rate of the home court is only three-quarters, when it can open depends on the weather.
Shichahai ice rink: it will be closed after only half a day's opening
Beijing Youth Daily learned from the Shichahai ice rink yesterday that the ice rink will be closed until this Wednesday due to the high temperature. On New Year's day this year, the Shichahai ice rink has been closed for only half a day.
Why is the reopening scheduled for Wednesday? Sun, manager of the ice rink, said the weather forecast showed that the temperature would drop below zero degrees Celsius on Wednesday, which is conducive to ensuring the standard thickness of the ice layer and the smoothness of the ice surface. "Only when the ice surface does not melt and the surface is smooth, can we skate and play ice skating." However, he also stressed that if the temperature drops on Monday and Tuesday, the ice rink can be temporarily opened according to the weather conditions, but it is not easy to say now.
In order to maintain the smoothness of the ice surface, the ice rink uses a water gun to "pour ice" every night. Manager Sun said that more than 20 staff members should participate in each "ice pouring", mainly because of the high labor cost. He also admitted that compared with the same period in previous years, the current ice rink is in a state of loss.
Happy ice and snow Carnival: ice not up to standard, ice project not open
On December 27 last year, the ice and snow carnival, located in the heart of Beijing, officially opened. Yesterday, Beijing Youth Daily learned from the Beijing staff sports service center that due to the warm weather in Beijing in recent days, the ice events of the ice and snow Carnival have not yet started business, and the nine snow events are normal business. In order to ensure the skiing quality of tourists, every night the staff have to make up the snow for the ice and snow world. But they use about 200 cubic meters of water a day from the reservoir of the artificial lake.
According to the organizers, the ice and snow Carnival of Gongti is basically around the artificial lake of Gongti. The continuous good weather has brought some inconvenience to the ice and snow world. The ice project has not been started for the time being because the ice layer can not reach the safest 50cm. Now every night, the staff are splashing ice to increase the thickness of the ice layer.
"In the snow project, we started to make snow on November 20 last year. At that time, we caught up with the cold current, and our snow layer was relatively thick. Now the pressure is not so great, and the snow quality is OK." The relevant person in charge of the organizer said. In order to cope with the relatively warm weather, the ice and snow Carnival purchased a snow maker from Canada that can start making snow at zero degrees Celsius last year. Now it seems to be of great use.
According to reports, due to the high temperature in the daytime, every night staff need to be on standby for snow replenishment operation. In the urban area, the temperature will drop to below zero centigrade between 2:00 and 5:00 every morning. As long as the temperature is appropriate, they will immediately start the snow maker to make snow.
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Citizens question excessive water use for snow making
Artificial snow is a high water consumption project. Article 34 of Beijing water saving measures promulgated and implemented in 2012 stipulates that water supply units or water-saving management departments shall gradually install water data remote transmission equipment for high water consumption units such as water-based production enterprises, artificial ski resorts, golf courses, high-end bathing places and water users with annual water consumption of more than 50000 cubic meters.
According to media reports, in 2011, friends of nature, a non-governmental environmental protection organization, released a report on China's environmental development, including articles on the investigation of water consumption and environmental conditions in Beijing's artificial snow entertainment venues. The article cites a set of data, Beijing's annual water consumption of artificial snow is at least 1 million tons, which is equivalent to the total annual water consumption of 8300 households in Beijing. In addition to high water consumption, artificial snow maker is also a large consumer of electricity. In the process of transforming water into snow, artificial snow maker needs to consume electric energy for refrigeration and compression. It is understood that the average power of a snowmaker is about 15 kW to 20 kW. If the power is calculated according to 20 kW, the power consumption of a snowmaker in one day is 480 degrees.
Many people have questioned whether a large number of artificial snow will cause greater pressure on Beijing's water resources? In this regard, the organizers of major ice and snow rinks have said that they have taken corresponding measures to save water, and the snow can be recycled after melting.
Beiqing daily learned from Taoranting Park and Yuyuantan Park that unlike previous ice and snow festivals, this year's ice and Snow Festival is built by using the environmental protection method of "circulating lake water". First, the lake water is drained and stored, and then the artificial snow machine is used to cool and compress the water to make snow at the bottom of the lake. After the beginning of spring, the artificial ice and snow melt and become lake water again, or infiltrate and replenish the groundwater as water for landscape irrigation.
As for the source of water needed for snow making, the organizers of the bird's nest happy ice and snow season said that most of the water used for snow making every day is reclaimed water purchased from the water company, and the price is about 1 yuan. With the melting of snow water, this part of water can be recycled. According to the situation in previous years, the water demand for the whole ice and snow season is about 20000 tons. There is no specific statistics on this year's water consumption, but the snow maker has not been able to work normally for a long time, so there is no problem of increasing water demand.
According to the organizer of the ice and snow carnival, all the artificial lakes in the workshop use reclaimed water, and the water used to make snow every day is also reclaimed water from the reservoir in the lake, and the daily replenishment is basically maintained at about 200 cubic meters. The effect is that the snow is re covered with a thin layer. The price of reclaimed water used is the same as that used by car washing shops, more than 1 yuan. If you make snow every day, you need to spend more than 200 yuan on reclaimed water every day. In the spring, the artificial ice and snow can be melted back to the lake, and the lake water can be recycled.
Wang Wei, the person in charge of the "ice and snow Carnival" in Longtan Park, said that unlike other ice and snow activities, the ice and snow Carnival in Longtan Lake has always relied on its own supply. "It's really hard to count how much water is used, because before making snow, the water from the main lake is pumped to the distribution lake for storage, and then the lake water is used to make snow. When the snow melts, it will return to lake water, which is almost recycled, and the use of snow machine is limited The electricity consumption is equivalent to the electricity consumption of five electric heaters working for several hours at the same time, and the cost is relatively low. "
