It looks like this when shooting the Beijing Olympics venue, which was held with almost 100% artificial snow, with an artificial satellite

The 2022 Beijing Olympics, which are being held in Beijing, China, are 'the world's first winter Olympics using almost 100% artificial snow.' Images of alpine skiing and other competition venues captured from artificial satellites clearly show how much artificial snow is actually used.

A Satellite View of Olympic Terrain

(PDF file) https://www.sportecology.org/_files/ugd/a700be_9aa3ec697a39446eb11b8330aec19e30.pdf

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Artificial snow is used in the Xiaohaituo Mountain area (Xidazhuangkecun, Zhangshanying, Yanqing County) in the northwest of Beijing. Originally used for alpine skiing and sliding sports, the area had an average of 3.3 cm of snow in February 2022. That is why we decided to use artificial snow.

In fact, if you look at the artificial satellite image taken on January 29, you can see that artificial snow is clearly emerging only on the competition route in the mountains.

On the other hand, skating, ice hockey and curling are held at the stadium in central Beijing.

Regarding artificial snow, a new research report by Loughborough University in the United Kingdom reveals that a huge amount of water and energy is required to produce artificial snow of the scale required for the Olympic Games. increase. This has led to a great deal of controversy from some Olympic athletes and environmentalists.

According to the research report, the Beijing Olympics uses 1.2 million cubic meters of artificial snow, which requires 223 million liters of water, three pumping stations, eight cooling towers, and 130 generators. It is spelled out in the report that a snowmaking machine using the above is also required. The Chinese government claims that the energy used at the Beijing Olympics is 100% renewable energy.

In addition, the water is mixed with chemicals to make it harder to melt, which causes serious damage to the plants underneath the snow and where the melted water flows, researchers said. I am. In addition, 'unmeltable snow' confuses plants and animals, and the noise of snowmaking machines may affect wild animals.

Regarding the impact on athletes, it has been pointed out that 'artificial snow is made up of 30% ice and 70% air, which is very different from natural snow, which is' 10% ice and 90% air '.' increase. Slopes with artificial snow are physically stiff, increasing the speed at which athletes descend the slope. In competitions on snow, many athletes practice in natural snow. Researchers said these environmental differences reduce athletes' performance and make their injuries more serious in the event of an accident. In fact, several accidents have already been reported at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.