In an effort to fight global warming, Mongolia will try to trap part of its legendarily frigid winter weather into a giant block of ice that as it melts will help cool and water the capital Ulan Bator in the summer.
The trial geoengineering project, dubbed one of the "world's biggest ice-making experiments," is scheduled to begin later this month, the Guardian newspaper reported on its website.
The project will attempt to artificially build "naleds," a Russian term for super-thick sheets of ice that naturally form when water flows atop a frozen river or lake. As the process is repeated, the ice becomes massively thick, resembling a small glacier.
Scientists working on the $750,000 government experiment hope these huge blocks of ice will provide a sort of "ice shield" for the capital in the summer time, reducing the demand for air conditioning and providing water from drinking and farming.