Tosontsengel

Tosontsengel, a name meaning oil happiness, is a sum of Zavkhan Province in western Mongolia and the largest sum and sum center in the province after its capital Uliastai. It was founded in 1923 in the northeastern part of the province at the head of the Tarvagatai range, a branch of the Khangai Mountains, with the Ider River dividing the sum in two. The sum has about 9,000 people, of whom about 5,000 live in the sum center in winter. It has a subarctic climate with mild summers and bitterly cold winters, and on 19 December 2001 the highest barometric pressure ever recorded on Earth, 1085.7 millibars, was measured there. In the socialist period it was one of the largest timber processing centres in Mongolia. Most residents are nomadic herders, and a small hydropower station was built on the Ider near the sum centre. Tosontsengel Airport is in the sum centre.