Ice igloo technologies: - 40 ° outside and + 20 ° inside

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Looking at small houses made of ice or snow cubes, most of us ask the question: "How can you live in such a strange house in harsh conditions?" But the northern peoples know that there is nothing more reliable than ice igloos, and if you build them correctly, then at a temperature of -40 ° outside, indoors it will be + 20 °! Our next story is about what needs to be done to live in comfortable conditions in an extreme climatic zone.

Looking at small hemispheres created from snow or ice, it is difficult for an ordinary person living in the temperate or subtropical zones to even imagine how a person can exist in such conditions. But not everything is as incomprehensible as it seems at first glance, it is enough to understand the construction technology and know some of the laws of physics, and it will immediately become clear why the igloo is considered the most reliable winter shelter among all northern peoples.

Help from Novate. Ru editors:An igloo is a domed structure created from blocks of ice, compacted snow, or carved from a snowdrift of suitable density and size. Such a structure is a traditional place for indigenous peoples living on the territory of the polar coast of North America from Greenland to Nunavut and in the northeastern part of Chukotka. These people belong to the Arctic race, the more common name for the nation is the Eskimos.

Since ancient times, people have known that the smaller the room, the warmer it will be inside. It is this knowledge that the Eskimos use to the fullest when creating ice or snow houses, so no one makes huge domes. The most optimal dimensions for the construction of an igloo for one person are considered to be hemispheres with a diameter of 2, 7 m. But for a family of 3 people, a building diameter of 3, 4 m will be enough. As a rule, the height of any of these buildings does not exceed 2 m.

Considering that it is very difficult to cut the squares of the desired shape from ice, most often they use wind-compacted or well-packed snow, which is watered outside with water at the end of construction in order to strengthen and "insulate" the structure as much as possible. But the easiest way to build housing is considered to be when excess snow is selected in a deep snowdrift, the walls are compacted and the exit is strengthened. Moreover, the inlet (it cannot be called a traditional entrance in any way!) Is always made below the floor level.

This strange arrangement is due to physical laws that help maintain a comfortable temperature in a snow house and ensure proper ventilation. In the case when the snowdrift does not have sufficient depth, they break through the wall at the lowest point and, separately, with the help of snow bricks, a kind of sleeve-corridor is made through which you can … crawl into your house.

Note: The location of the entrance "door" in the form of a hole of the required diameter below the floor level is mandatory when creating an igloo from any "building" material, so you can get inside only by crawling.

Assembling an Eskimo house from bricks made of snow and ice is a more complicated and time-consuming process. Thanks to the Canadian polar explorer, ethnographer and writer Viljalmur Stefansson, the first non-Eskimo who built an igloo with his own hands in 1914, now we can learn all the secrets of the reliability of the Eskimo winter refuge.

As it turned out, the strength of the traditional dwelling of the northern peoples is due to the unique shape of the blocks from which it is created. It is this subtlety that allows the hut to be folded in a spiral (in the form of a snail) with a gradual narrowing towards the top. Also pay attention to the way the ice / snow blocks are installed. When laying each "brick", you should know that it must be in close contact with the previous row at three points at the same time and with the same emphasis. In the upper part of the structure, when the completion of the masonry is nearing the end, a small gap is left without fail, which acts as a chimney. To further strengthen the rounded walls of the structure and the stability of the hut, the finished structure is watered from the outside with water, as in the above-described method for creating an igloo.

Some settlements make windows in their dwellings to provide more sunlight. Naturally, traditional glazing is not possible here, so ice blocks of the desired shape or cut and cleaned seal stomachs are used as "windows". If this is not done, then the main source of light becomes the snow itself or the translucency of the ice, as well as the chimney and the opening of the igloo. During the onset of the polar winter, a tallow candle made of moss and deer fat is used for lighting, or a small bowl with fish / seal oil and a wick is installed.

Important! If the igloo was built correctly, the temperature inside the ice / snow structure remains quite comfortable even without "heating". It keeps within + 16-20 degrees, even if the thermometer on the street drops below minus 40 ° Celsius.

Simple interior design of Eskimo dwellings is the same in all Arctic regions of the planet. To create at least some comfort, there are always skins on the igloo floor, sometimes they are hung on the walls. In order to provide a higher temperature in the event of severe frosts, residents of ice houses begin to heat their houses with the same fat, only the bowl and wick will already be larger. Food and hot drinks are also prepared over this fire.

Such "heating devices" not only help to maintain a comfortable temperature in this energy-efficient housing, they contribute to additional strengthening of the structure only from the inside of the structure. Due to the fact that the shell of the walls and the vaulted ceiling heats up, the snow begins to melt a little, although condensation and water will not drip onto the floor, because the upper layers will absorb it like a sponge. At the upper level, the water freezes in a matter of minutes. Thanks to this property, excess moisture evaporates, forming additional protection from wind and cold, while inside the igloo it will always be dry and comfortable.

And one more important issue related to the safety of housing, in order to keep more heat at night and to prevent the appearance of unexpected guests in the face of a polar bear, the entrance inside the igloo is blocked with a large piece of ice. It is not known whether they make such a barrier in cases where all the houses of the settlement are connected with each other by additional snow tunnels, but that such paths exist is a confirmed act.

Ice structures are valued not only by the Eskimos; in most of Russia, ice cellars have been very popular for a long time. They were built in a special way and until now, these roofs without houses amaze the modern inhabitants of megalopolises, but in distant villages, people cannot imagine their existence without them.