Choosing the target
Regarding my research plans, overall the best fitting country is definitely Mongolia, so it’s not a coincidence that I chose it again. It’s the perfect amalgam between an excellent natural context and decent travel conditions, even more now, when some other countries, which are on my bucket list from a long time are going through turbulent times.
The strong Central Asian anticyclone is the solid base for the severe cold in this part of the globe, north-western Mongolia being the actual center of this major baric system, bringing stable weather with clear skies, which favorizes the nocturnal cooling and the formation of thermal inversions in the valleys and basins.

From a long time I have a dominant wish regarding the extreme climates. It’s the particular case, when there is no snow on the ground, but it’s still unusually cold. I would even say that this is my favorite research context between all the existing combination possibilities. It’s the certain kind of “otherworldliness”, reminiscent of Mars or Moon, which gives it the special charm.
For many years I followed and remotely monitored the weather’s evolution in the spots with the best potential, waiting for the ideal congruence to occur. However, as a generality covering many aspects of life, the best things usually doesn’t happen easily. Even if you are ready to pay the price. But this is the “entry level” without any doubt. So here I am now targeting the fragile equilibrum between extreme cold and bare ground.

Some people could ask, why is this so difficult to achieve? Well, there are two major causes:
The first is based on simple physics, namely the fact that the snow cover seriously enhances the cooling of the air above, partly because of blocking most of the Earth’s internal heat under its isolating blanket (air particles between the snow flakes), then because its white color reflects the Sun’s heating rays during the daytime. In short: without snow cover can’t be that cold.
The second is related to the weather patterns, which have their own limitations regarding the relation between snow fall and snow melt/ sublimation in a certain situation. Thus, during very cold weather if a little bit of new snow falls (even less than 1 cm) it will last pretty long time on the frozen ground. All these together are severly narrowing the range of possibilities to found a proper context regarding this plan.

After a thorough analysis of concrete weather/ climate data, satellite images and topography I got to the conclusion that the best chances to produce very cold without snow on the ground are some areas of Western Mongolia, respectively the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau. These regions receive minimal precipitation during winter, while at the same time cooling down to almost arctic levels. Tibet has the altitude, Mongolia the latitude advantage.
How about to have both? Maybe a compromise between a relatively high elevation and a sufficiently nordic setting will be the best choice. Let’s check this out.
There are some parts in the arid interior side of the Mongolian Altai where the elevation is above 2500, even 3000 meters, while the latitude is between 46-47 degrees N. A closed basin here should be great for sure. I was very glad when realizing there are some promising topographical settings.

The best seems to be the one named Jargalantyn Mukhar, a 75-80 meters deep bowl situated on a semi-desertic plateau of rusty nuance in the central part of Khovd province. Its bottom is situated at 2780 m elevation and looks like it’s completely dried up (only solonchak, no lake). It’s the second highest between all the endorheic structures with significant depth in Mongolia, surpassed only by a smaller one with a quarter of its depth and also more exposed.
According to the statistics of the weather stations located on the mongolian side of the Altai range the average precipitation of the winter months is around or even less than 1 mm, Tonkhil receiving no more than 0.5 mm during each. I think it could be similar in my target area too. Certainly rain shadow, respectively föhn effect, the other side getting almost all the rain and snow.
After analyzing the seasonal satellite images of the last two decades which prove that in more winters the snow cover was completely missing there, I became optimistic that with some luck this particular place could deliver what I am searching for.
Brief summary of the research
Because in this plan the uncertainty factor was significant, I was prepared with a “Plan B” for backup, in case that the bare ground context could not be found in the targeted area. This is a little more complicated as it sounds, as the “Plan A” location is strictly reserved for snow-free conditions, thus in case of a new snowfall the study area will move to a different place. This is because the intermediate situation when there is only a thin snow-cover is not good for any kind of research, therefore I will rather go to an area which already had snow before to be able to reach lower temperatures.

Actually there were some chances to snow a little just before my plane will land in Mongolia, so I was very pleased when checking the newest satellite imagery while in transit in Istanbul saw that the snow-free condition persisted in the chosen basin.
My plane landed in Ulaanbaatar on 12th January in the morning. Because of the forthcoming anticyclone I was rushed to reach the target as soon as possible, thus didn’t spent the next night in Khovd, but headed in the evening directly towards the high plateau in Möst sum with the 4wd driver. Little sleep, even less acclimatization. The biggest part of the road is brand new chinese asphalt, only the latter 20 km’s or so is dirt track. At the start of the latter our host was waiting to guid us towards the target. Pushing the limits, after mounting the tent nearby, on 14th January in the night I managed to reach the bottom of Jargalantyn Mukhar basin.

The exact coordinates are: 46.8586 N, 92.2189 E, the elevation 2780 m. The height of the sensor above the ground is around 170 cm. At 2:26 AM the mini weather station started its operation. The device is recording a temperature value every 5 minutes. First reading was -32.5 degrees Celsius, then, just before leaving I saw -33.2 C.
After the installation I went back to my tent and rested until the early morning, when returned to the tripod to check the night’s minimum. The lowest recorded value was -34.1 C while the actual temperature was slightly rising despite there were no clouds nor wind on the bottom.
In the nearby col, situated 80 meters higher I measured between -26, -27 degrees, accompanied by some breeze. It seems that the inversion is not so strong here, despite the very dry air, which holds back the hoarfrost to form even at below -30 degrees.

I spent the day and the next night too in the surroundings, sleeping in tent and returning again in the second morning to verify the instrument. The minimum wasn’t lower, but pretty close: -33.6, while the maximum reached -16.3 degrees Celsius. The sky was completely clear during this interval, but in the latter part of the second night the wind became more active.
After securing the tripod with some improvised weight (hanging rocks inside a bag) to can handle windier conditions too, I left the research area on 15th January around noon and except a short trip to Möst sum’s center, I spent the next four days just a few km’s away, sleeping in yurt with locals. During this interval the sky was variable (sometimes windy) with some very weak snow showers here and there on 16th.

I’ve done a few hikes to the nearby rocky peaks and visited Davst Nuur hypersaline lake, meanwhile observing the nomadic activity (sheeps, goats, horses, yaks) and wildlife (bearded vulture, ibex, hare). No wolves, but the locals said there are many on the other side of a range, coming over and attacking the livestock regularly.
While there, the studied basin itself looked empty, but I saw herds of animals and yurts not far from the salt marsh (2-3 km), also a few motorcycles passed by. All in all, despite the remoteness and harsh conditions there is some human activity in the whole area, the signs of grazing being often visible.

I returned to collect the equipment on 19th January in the late morning and found the installation in its place with the gadget intact and functional. All data was correctly recorded. The lowest temperature remained the one from 14th, while the maximum reached -10.9 on 17th January.
A productive research for sure.
The instruments used on the field
-One LogTag UTRED30-16 data logger with the measuring range between -40 and +99 degrees Celsius, an accuracy of 0.5 degrees Celsius and a resolution of 0.1 degrees Celsius.
-One Greisinger GMH 2710-T digital precision thermometer with the measuring range between -199.9, +200 degrees Celsius, an accuracy of +-0.1 degrees Celsius and a resolution of 0.1 degrees Celsius.
-One photo camera tripod serving as the support for the instruments.
-One helical solar radiation shield from Barani Design Technologies: https://www.baranidesign.com/

To be continued…