第1918期:Sea Ice in Antarctica Falls to Record Lows

Sea ice in the Antarctic area fell to a record low this year. The drop is a result of rising temperatures worldwide. And there is no quick fix to make up for the damage, scientists said recently in a new study. Antarctica’s minimum summer ice cover, which last year dropped below 2 million square kilometers for the first time since satellite monitoring began in 1978, fell further to a new low in February. The scientists’ findings appeared in the publication Frontiers in Environmental Science.

今年南极地区的海冰降至历史最低水平。下降是全球气温上升的结果。科学家最近在一项新研究中表示，没有快速修复方法可以弥补损害。南极洲夏季最小冰盖面积自1978年开始卫星监测以来，去年首次降至200万平方公里以下，2月份进一步降至新低。科学家的研究结果发表在《环境科学前沿》杂志上。

Anna Hogg of the University of Leeds in Britain was one of the study's co-writers. When speaking about the melting icebergs and shelves, she said "It's going to take decades if not centuries for these things to recover. There's no quick fix to replacing this ice." She told a group of reporters, "It will certainly take a long time, even if it's possible." This year's sea ice minimum is 20 percent lower than the average over the last 40 years. The sea ice loss represents an area nearly 10 times that of New Zealand, said Tim Naish of the Antarctic Research Center at New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington. Naish was not part of the study.

英国利兹大学的安娜·霍格是该研究的合著者之一。当谈到融化的冰山和冰架时，她说：“这些东西需要几十年甚至几个世纪才能恢复。没有快速的解决办法来更换这些冰。”她对一群记者说：“即使有可能，这也肯定需要很长时间。”今年的海冰最低值比过去 40 年的平均水平低 20%。新西兰惠灵顿维多利亚大学南极研究中心的蒂姆·奈什表示，海冰消失的面积几乎是新西兰面积的10倍。奈什没有参与这项研究。

Naish added that in some cases we are getting close to important large changes that could lead to serious consequences for future generations. The warming of Earth's surface driven by the burning of fossil fuels has made Antarctica more likely to suffer from extreme events. And the effect is almost "certain" to get worse, the study said. Climate change will "lead to increases in the size and frequency" of heatwaves, ice shelf collapses and declines in sea ice, it said. The study drew on recent evidence from scientific studies of the Antarctic Ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere and biosphere.

奈什补充说，在某些情况下，我们正在接近重要的重大变化，这些变化可能会给子孙后代带来严重后果。化石燃料燃烧导致地球表面变暖，使南极洲更有可能遭受极端事件。研究称，这种影响几乎“肯定”会变得更糟。报告称，气候变化将“导致热浪规模和频率增加”、冰架崩塌和海冰减少。该研究借鉴了南极海洋、大气、冰冻圈和生物圈科学研究的最新证据。

The exact effects of climate change on Antarctica and the surrounding ocean have been uncertain. Scientists have had problems measuring how much the Earth’s warming is affecting the thickness of Antarctic ice. But from events such as the fast decline in sea ice, it is "scientifically reasonable" to assume that extreme events are going to become worse as temperatures rise worldwide, said Martin Siegert of the University of Exeter, another study co-writer. Last year, an "atmospheric river" coming from Australia pushed heat and moisture into Antarctica. The result was temperatures up to 38.5 Celsius above normal, the largest variance from the norm the world has ever experienced.

气候变化对南极洲和周围海洋的确切影响尚不确定。科学家们在测量地球变暖对南极冰层厚度的影响程度时遇到了困难。但埃克塞特大学的另一位研究合著者马丁·西格特表示，从海冰快速下降等事件来看，随着全球气温上升，极端事件将变得更加严重的假设是“科学合理的”。去年，一条来自澳大利亚的“大气河”将热量和湿气输送到了南极洲。结果，气温比正常水平高出 38.5 摄氏度，这是世界上有史以来与正常水平的最大差异。

Siegert described the temperature increase as "absolutely astonishing.” Siegert added that if the event had happened during the Antarctic summer, instead of winter, it would have caused melting on the surface of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which has so far been saved from melting. Siegert used the term fragile, meaning easily broken or damaged, to describe Antarctica. "Antarctica is fragile as an environment, but extreme events test that fragility," he said. "What we're deeply concerned about is the increase in intensity and frequency of extreme events and the …. influences that they have in other areas."

西格特将温度升高描述为“绝对令人惊讶”。西格特补充说，如果这一事件发生在南极夏季，而不是冬季，就会导致南极东部冰盖表面融化，而迄今为止，该冰盖尚未融化。西格特使用了“脆弱”一词，意思是容易破裂。 “南极洲作为一个环境是脆弱的，但极端事件考验着这种脆弱性，”他说，“我们深感担忧的是极端事件的强度和频率的增加以及……”他们在其他领域的影响力。”