Snowmaking

Snowmaking 101. Ratnik Industries, http //www.ratnik.com/snowmaking.html... 

Keywords Artificial snowmaking. Hydropower, Irrigation, Runoff characteristics, Water use... 

In 2006 around 35% of aU ski slopes in the Alps - or roughly 35,000 hectares -were covered with artificial snow. But a comparison with other European countries shows major differences (Fig. 6). If one assumes that 2,000 m of water per hectare need to be used for artificial snowmaking [8], this results in an annual water requirement of 70 million cubic meters for the alpine region as a whole. The estimated volume for Switzerland is around 8.4 million cubic meters. 

In addition to the wide range of effects which artificial snow has on the enviromnent (e.g. [46 9]), the loss of evaporation and sublimation resulting from snow cover or snowmaking is of particular relevance for the water balance of alpine catchment areas. The extent of this loss is still unclear. The data range from 10% to 30% of the volume of water used for snowmaking [7, 8]. 

Even if one assumes that artificial snowmaking equipment will be used on many more ski slopes in the alpine region in the future, the influence of this application on the natural water cycle - at least from a large-scale viewpoint - is of secondary importance. However, intensive snowmaking is likely to exacerbate local shortages and conflicts related to water supplies and use. 

Fig. 6 Ratio of slopes in the alpine area with snowmaking facilities (Status 2006 (Slovenia 2004) Data ...

Recreational use (e.g., lakes and ponds, fisheries, snowmaking, marsh enhancement)... 

Because artificial snow is different. It isn t really snow. Snowmaking machines actually manufacture tiny beads of ice, each about one-ten-thousandth of an inch in diameter. 

A snowmaking machine, in which water is blown through nozzles by compressed air. The mixture is cooled by expansion to form ice crystals of snow. 

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