格陵蘭島的融冰速度達(dá)到350年之最

Nowhere on Earth is safe from the effects of climate change, but Greenland gets it particularly bad. Warmer temperatures disproportionately affect the Arctic, and ice-filled Greenland is especially vulnerable. New research finds that warming has caused Greenland to lose ice more quickly today than at any point over the last 350 years.

全球沒有任何角落可以幸免于氣候變化帶來的影響，但格陵蘭島尤為糟糕。氣候變暖對北極地區(qū)的影響更大，常年被冰雪覆蓋的格陵蘭島尤其脆弱。新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，氣候變暖導(dǎo)致格陵蘭島冰層融化的速度比過去350年的任何時候都要快。

Previous studies have measured just how much the island’s ice is melting, and even spotted melting in the typically robust northern sea ice. All the science agrees: Greenland is warming and its ice is disappearing. But this new study puts that warming and melting into context, by looking at the island’s history.

此前的研究只是測量了格陵蘭島上的冰融化了多少，甚至發(fā)現(xiàn)，通常很堅不可摧的北部海冰都正在融化。所有的科學(xué)都認(rèn)為：格陵蘭島正在變暖，它的冰層正在融化。但這項(xiàng)新研究通過回顧格陵蘭島的歷史，將這種變暖和融化融入了整個進(jìn)程中。

The researchers drilled deep holes into Greenland’s ice and used those to extract samples of ice from hundreds of feet below the surface. With those samples, the researchers were able to create a timeline of Greenland’s ice cover going back 350 years. As part of that timeline, the researchers calculated how much ice melted in Greenland every year.

研究人員在格陵蘭島的冰層上鉆了很深的洞，并通過這些洞，從幾百英尺深的冰層中提取樣本。通過這些樣本，研究人員能夠繪制出格陵蘭島350年前冰層覆蓋的時間軸，研究人員又根據(jù)這個時間軸計算出了格陵蘭島每年融化的冰量。

Typically, ice on Greenland melts during the summer months and then accumulates in the winter. Ideally, both of those amounts would be equal, so Greenland doesn’t gain or lose very much ice in a typical year. But lately, ice has been melting faster in the summer than it has in the past, and warmer winter temperatures mean the island is slower to build new ice.

通常情況下，格陵蘭島的冰在夏季融化，在冬季又結(jié)冰。理想情況下，這兩個量應(yīng)該是相等的，因此，在正常年份里，格陵蘭島不會增加或減少太多的冰。但是最近，冰層夏天的融化速度比過去快，而冬天溫度升高則意味著結(jié)冰的速度變慢了。

The end result, according to the study, is that over the past two decades Greenland has been losing ice more quickly than it has in centuries. More than just that, the rate at which the island is losing ice has been accelerating. This suggests that over the next few decades, Greenland will lose ice even faster than it is right now. If that’s true, the Arctic-and the entire planet-is in serious trouble.

根據(jù)這項(xiàng)研究，最終的結(jié)果是，在過去20年里，格陵蘭島的冰層流失速度比幾個世紀(jì)以來的任何時候都要快。不僅如此，冰流失的速度也在加快。這意味著，在未來幾十年里，格陵蘭島的融冰速度將比現(xiàn)在更快。如果這是真的，北極——乃至整個地球——的麻煩就大了。