Chewang Norphel [needs IPA] (born 1935) is an Indian civil engineer from Ladakh, who has built 15 artificial glaciers.

[2] Coming from a middle-class family of Leh, Norphel went to Amar Singh College in Srinagar as a student of science.

In June 1960, he joined the rural development department of Jammu and Kashmir in Ladakh as a civil engineer.

[3][4] Norphel noticed a small stream had frozen solid under the shade of a group of poplar trees, though it flowed freely elsewhere in his yard.

Based on this, he created artificial glaciers by diverting a river into a valley, slowing the stream by constructing checks.