Deep in the Sayan Mountains of northern Mongolia, patches of ice rest year-round in the crooks between hills.
Deep in the Sayan Mountains of northern Mongolia, patches of ice rest year-round in the crooks between hills.
Locals in this high tundra call the perennial snowbanks munkh mus, or eternal ice. They’re central to lives of the region’s traditional reindeer herders, who depend on the snowy patches for clean drinking water and to cool down their hoofed charges in summer months.
Now, a new study led by archaeologist William Taylor suggests that this eternal ice, and the people and animals it supports, may be at risk because of soaring global temperatures.
“What’s unique about reindeer herding is how closely it’s tied to this very fragile thing—the ice,” said Taylor, formerly of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and now an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at CU Boulder.
For research published Nov. 20 in the journal PLOS ONE, he and his colleagues conducted a survey of reindeer herders to learn more about their relationship with that fragile ice. And, the team discovered, the once-reliable munkh mus seems to be melting faster than at any time in recent history.
Read more at University of Colorado At Boulder
Photo: A domesticated reindeer comes in for a nuzzle. (Credits: William Taylor)
