本集内容

Melting glacier 南极冰川加速消融

学习要点

有关 “speed（速度）” 的词汇

边看边答

What is this melting glacier called?

文字稿

This one Antarctic glacier is the size of the UK and is already responsible for five percent of world sea level rise. And the rate the Thwaites Glacier is melting has accelerated fivefold in the last 30 years.

这个南极冰川的面积相当于英国的面积，它已经造成了全球海平面上升5%。在过去的30年里，思韦茨冰川的融化速度加快了五倍。

Last year, a team of British and American scientists set up camp on the glacier. It is one of the most remote places on Earth.

去年，一支由英国和美国科学家组成的团队在这个冰川上扎营。这是地球上最遥远的地方之一。

By measuring the gravitational pull of the seabed under the ice, they discovered a network of deep channels, a key step in understanding why the glacier is changing so rapidly.

通过测量冰层下的海底重力，他们发现了纵横交错的巨大通道，这是理解为什么冰川变化得如此迅速的关键一步。

This is what they think is happening. A series of huge channels - some almost a kilometre below the ice - allow the warmer, deep ocean water to flow up to the front of the glacier, melting it increasingly rapidly.

科学家们认为冰川加速消融的原因是：海底有巨大的通道，其中一些通道在冰下约一千米，这些巨大的通道让暖流涌向冰川前端，使冰川融化得越来越快。

Another team of scientists worked from an icebreaker ship at the front of the glacier. Exceptional sea ice break-up last year, meant they could survey over 2,000 square kilometres of the sea floor in front of the Thwaites ice shelf.

另一组科学家在冰川前端的一艘破冰船上展开了工作。由于去年海冰破裂的程度甚高，他们得以在思韦茨冰架前勘察超过2000平方公里的海底。

Kelly Hogan, Marine Geophysicist, British Antarctic Survey
It's so important to understand what's going on in Antarctica today, particularly these big glaciers like Thwaites, because they are changing really quickly as the climate warms and as they melt, they are feeding more and more water to our global oceans, which is increasing the rate of sea level rise.

凯莉·霍根 英国南极调查局海洋地球物理学家
“了解南极现在发生了什么是非常重要的，特别是像思韦茨这样的大型冰川，因为随着气候变暖，它们的变化十分迅速，而随着这些冰川的融化，有越来越多的海水注入全球海洋，从而加快海平面上升的速度。”

There is up to three and a half metres of sea level rise locked up in the ice here in West Antarctica. That's enough to reshape the map of the Earth, flooding many of the world's greatest cities.  

西部南极洲的冰层在消融后可导致海平面上升将近3.5米。这足以重塑地球版图，淹没诸多世界著名城市。

Understanding why this remote area is changing and how quickly it will do so, is essential if the world is to prepare for the rising waters to come.

如果人们要为即将到来的全球海平面上升现象做好准备，那么了解这一偏远地区为什么会发生变化以及变化的速度则至关重要。

词汇

rate 速度，速率

accelerated 加快了

rapidly 迅速地

exceptional 程度高于平常的

quickly 很快地，迅速地

问题答案

It is called the Thwaites Glacier.