氣候科學家在格陵蘭島的冰川底部發(fā)現(xiàn)了令人不安的跡象

氣候科學家在格陵蘭島的冰川底部發(fā)現(xiàn)了令人不安的跡象

On one of the hottest days of the summer, locals in the small village of Kulusuk,Greenland, heard an explosion.It was the crack of ice on a glacier five miles away.

在今年夏天最熱的一天，格陵蘭島庫魯蘇克的一個小村莊里，當?shù)厝寺牭搅吮?。原來是五英里外的冰川上冰塊裂開的聲音。

Greenland lost 12.5 billion tons of ice to melting on August 2, the largest single-day loss in recorded history and another stark reminder of the climate crisis.

8月2日，格陵蘭島因融化而損失125億噸冰，這是歷史上單日損失最大的一次，也是對氣候危機再次強烈的提醒。

Kulusuk is also base camp for NASA's OMG (Oceans Melting Greenland) program. OMG scientists traveled to the world's biggest island this year after a heatwave scorched the United States and Europe, smashing temperature records and triggering the mass melting of its ice sheet.

庫魯蘇克也是美國宇航局OMG(海洋融化格陵蘭島)項目的大本營。OMG的科學家們今年前往世界上最大的島嶼，此前美國和歐洲遭受熱浪的炙烤，打破了氣溫記錄，引發(fā)了冰蓋的大規(guī)模融化。

NASA oceanographer Josh Willis and his team are investigating how the ice is being attacked not only by rising air temperatures but also by the warming ocean, which is eating it away from underneath.

美國宇航局海洋學家喬希·威利斯和他的團隊正在調(diào)查冰層是如何受到不斷上升的空氣溫度和不斷變暖的海洋的侵蝕的，海洋正在從下面吞噬著冰層。

A remodeled World War II DC-3 plane, now called Basler BT-57, takes a group of OMG researchers around the coast of Greenland. From the air the crew launch special probes through the ice floor, which then transmit data on temperature and salinity.

一架改型的二戰(zhàn)DC-3飛機，現(xiàn)在被稱為Basler BT-57，載著一群OMG的研究人員在格陵蘭島海岸飛行。宇航員們從空中發(fā)射特殊的探測器穿過冰層，然后傳送溫度和鹽度的數(shù)據(jù)。

"There is enough ice in Greenland to raise the sea levels by 7.5 meters, that's about 25 feet, an enormous volume of ice, and that would be devastating to coastlines all around the planet," said Willis. "We should be retreating already from the coastline if we are looking at many meters [lost] in the next century or two."

威利斯說:“格陵蘭島有足夠的冰使海平面上升了7.5米，也就是約25英尺，這是一個巨大的冰量，這將對全球海岸線造成毀滅性的影響。”他說:“如果我們在未來一兩個世紀看到海平面下降很多米，我們應(yīng)該已經(jīng)從海岸線撤退了。

As our plane approached Helheim, the scientists spotted an ice-free "lake" at the very front of the glacier, something they said they don't see often. The probes also brought back troubling data -- Helheim was surrounded by warm water, more than 2,000 feet below the surface.

當我們的飛機接近赫爾海姆島時，科學家們在冰川的最前端發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個不結(jié)冰的“湖”，他們說這是他們不?？吹降?。探測器還帶回了一些令人不安的數(shù)據(jù)——赫爾海姆島被溫暖的海水包圍著，水深超過2000英尺。

"It's very rare anywhere on the planet to see 700 meters of no temperature variation, normally we find colder waters in the upper hundred meters or so, but right in front of the glacier it's warm all the way up," said Ian Fenty, climate scientist at NASA. "These warm waters now are able to be in direct contact with the ice over its entire face, supercharging the melting."

美國國家航空航天局氣候科學家伊恩·芬蒂說:“在地球上任何地方，700米沒有溫度變化的情況都是非常罕見的，通常我們會在上百米左右的地方發(fā)現(xiàn)更冷的水，但就在冰川的正前方，溫度一直在上升。”“這些溫暖的海水現(xiàn)在能夠直接接觸到整個表面的冰，加速融化。

Helheim has become famous in recent years as it has been retreating at a stunning rate. In 2017, the glacier lost a whopping two miles, and a year later scientists from New York University captured a miles-long ice column break off the glacier's front. The melt doesn't seem to be slowing this year either.

近年來，赫爾海姆以驚人的速度撤退，并因此而出名。2017年，這座冰川異常地損失了兩英里，一年后，紐約大學的科學家們發(fā)現(xiàn)一個長達一英里的冰柱從冰川前端斷裂。今年融化似乎也沒有減緩。