What is the approximate temperature of the coldest place we know of where humans live?
In some TV series, we often hear some about the setting of "ExtremeLy Cold Land", which is often frozen for thousands of miles, and many genius treasures can be achieved to achieve a special wish. Realistically, some wishes may depend on themselves, but such "extremely cold places" are also real.
But in Oymyakon, East Siberia, a region known as the planet's "extremely cold land", there are still 500 villagers living here all year round. How low can the minimum temperature be? Minus 71 °C.
It was so cold, almost anything left out was frozen hard, how did the Oymyakons live here?
Extremely cold land
As one of the coldest permanent human settlements in the world, the general topography of Oymyakon is a basin with higher east, south and west sides and a relatively low terrain on the back.
Such an almost "open-ended" terrain makes it easier for cold air from and to the full amount to invade the interior of the basin, while blocking the arrival of warm air from the south, when the low temperature rises with the terrain of the mountain range, and then sinks down the hillside to the basin, creating an extremely low temperature environment, sometimes even lower than the temperature of the Arctic.
According to non-authoritative measurements, on February 6, 1933, the temperature in the Oymyakon region reached the minimum temperature limit of the Northern Hemisphere: -71.2 °C, so the place also had the title of "cold pole" in the northern hemisphere.
The long-term population of Oymyakon is basically drawn from the "frozen spring (hot spring)", so in the 1920s and 1930s, a village slowly developed in the vicinity, with a permanent population of about 500 people.
Because of the extreme cold temperatures, the land here is almost completely frozen and is still permafrost. Such land cannot be used normally as a foundation for construction, one is that the ecology of the permafrost layer is very fragile, and the other is that its instability is too strong. Therefore, in order to build a house on this basis, the method chosen by the Oymyakon people is to "dig deep piles", and the bottom floor of the house should not be able to directly touch the ground, so as not to heat the ground with the warm air in the room, and the frozen soil on duty will melt and pose a security threat to the house.
Then the question arises: the soil and water are frozen, how do the people of Oymyakon live?
Life at low temperatures
- daily
As mentioned earlier, there are hot springs near Oymyakon, and the ice and snow everywhere are not a problem for the local residents to use the water source. So in the extremely cold land with wide permafrost, there is no way to cultivate land, what do people eat?
Walking into the small town of Oymyakon, we can see that most of the goods traded in the market here are meat products.
All kinds of fish, milk, horse meat, etc., more special is that these meats are hard, even milk and the like are ice cubes, not in boxes, because it will freeze and crack. Other nuts and vegetables, biscuits and the like are generally imported, but such demand is very small.
Almost all of the local population depends on reindeer breeding, hunting and fishing. A variety of meats are their main food, butter and sugar ratio is relatively high, can resist the low temperature environment energy consumption, and low temperature environment can also maintain the freshness of food for a long time.
Such cold weather, people will feel uncomfortable? On the contrary, Oymyakon is known for its "longevity".
Extremely low temperatures make it impossible for most viruses and bacteria to survive here, almost completely pure water sources are now unattainable in many cities, and the healthy and active lifestyles of locals and an optimistic attitude are important reasons why people are still willing to live there.
- Travel
One of the more challenging issues in the local area is daily travel. It's fine to go out in the cool summer weather, but in other seasons, the widespread snow and low temperature are difficult to walk, and if you want to travel safely, you have to find a way. The locals' solution to this is basically: reduce the number and frequency of travel.
This may seem a bit funny, but it is. There are almost no modern facilities in the area, because almost everything can be frozen here, even the normal current will fail, and the network may be "frozen", so few people use mobile phones.
Indoors, you can burn coal and firewood for heating, but outdoors, even water pipes can only be laid on the ground, and heating stations are set up along the way to prevent water pipes from freezing. Therefore, if people want to travel, they must be fully armed, and generally do not stay outside for more than 20 minutes, because of the cold, some muscle tissue may be frostbitten.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that near this area, there are basically "special cars".
This special car is not set up for itself, but only convenient for the use of such vehicles in the local area, that is, some cars that can be started by blowtorch flame heating. Do not turn around casually during the driving, because the tires are very likely to derail and fly out, and it is necessary to drive in a straight line; and there is no need to easily turn off the engine, even if you sleep and rest at night, otherwise the engine may freeze in about 10 minutes, basically can no longer burn, which is a very dangerous thing in the snow.
One of the more interesting points is that the Oymyakon Kindergarten and primary school students do not easily bow to the low temperature during class time, and the school will only be closed when it reaches -48 °C and -54 °C respectively.
There is also the fact that the toilet is not indoors, but outdoors, with only one word - cold. Sure enough, is that why the fighting nation is so capable?
summary
If you don't take into account the winter, in fact, in the Oymyakon area, although the summer time is short, the temperature is still very cool, the average temperature is about 14 ° C, just like turning on the low temperature air conditioning. But looking at the temperature changes throughout the year, the temperature difference here can reach 100 °C.
As a native of the South, the personal cognitive limit of the low temperature in winter will not be lower than minus 10 ° C at most, and if it is low, it may be directly nestled in the quilt and beaten to death.
It wasn't until after college that students in the north said that it was too cold in the south that they knew that there was still "heating". But if the outdoor temperature can still be as low as -71 ° C, it may not really work.
Because many traces of biological relics (such as mammoths) are preserved at low temperatures, and because people live and live a long life, scientists are also very interested in research here. Therefore, even if the local convenience is not high, there are many people who are willing to go to research and research, and many ordinary people come to travel.