海洋变暖如此之快，就像每秒钟有5颗原子弹爆炸

海洋变暖如此之快，就像每秒钟有5颗原子弹爆炸

Yet another new study has confirmed some of our most alarmist fears about global warming: that it's tracking according to our worst-case projections, the effects are accelerating, and it's undoubtedly man-made, reports CNN.

然而，另一项新的研究证实了我们对全球变暖的一些最危言耸听的担忧:根据我们的最坏情况预测，它的影响正在加速，毫无疑问，这是人为的，CNN报道。

The report, released in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, paints a dire picture of our oceans in crisis. While our oceans warmed steadily between 1955 and 1986, the rate of warming we've seen in the last few decades has been through the roof. Since 1987, ocean warming has been 450 percent greater than during the earlier time period.

这份发表在《大气科学进展》杂志上的报告描绘了一幅处于危机中的海洋的可怕画面。虽然我们的海洋在1955年到1986年间持续变暖，但在过去几十年里，我们看到的变暖速度已经达到了顶峰。自1987年以来，海洋变暖的幅度比前一时期增加了450%。

A brilliant sunset over the ocean, eerily symbolic of the warming crisis. (Photo: Bob n Renee/Flickr [CC 2.0 License])

In fact, scientists now say that our oceans are heating up at a rate equivalent to five Hiroshima atomic bombs being dropped into the water every second.

事实上，科学家现在说，我们的海洋正在升温，其速度相当于每秒钟五颗广岛原子弹投进水里。

"The Hiroshima atom-bomb exploded with an energy of about 63,000,000,000,000 Joules," said Lijing Cheng, the paper's lead author. "I did a calculation ... the amount of heat we have put in the world's oceans in the past 25 years equals to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atom-bomb explosions."

“广岛原子弹爆炸的能量约为6300,000,000,000,000焦耳，”论文的第一作者李静(音)说。“我做了一个计算……在过去的25年里，我们给世界海洋带来的热量相当于36亿次广岛原子弹爆炸。”

That actually pans out to "only" four bombs exploding per second, but the rate keeps increasing, so today the effect is much worse.

这实际上意味着每秒“只有”4枚炸弹爆炸，但爆炸速度在不断增加，所以今天的效果更糟。

"We are now at five to six Hiroshima bombs of heat each second," said John Abraham, another of the study's authors.

该研究的另一名作者约翰·亚伯拉罕说，“我们现在每秒有五到六颗原子弹爆炸。”

This trend is so steep that there's simply no natural explanation for it. The only factors that can account for this crisis are greenhouse gas emissions spewed by human civilization. The past decade has been the warmest on record for global ocean temperatures, and the hottest five years ever recorded all came in the last five.

这种趋势是如此的陡峭，以至于根本没有自然的解释。造成这场危机的唯一因素是人类文明排放的温室气体。过去十年是有记录以来全球海洋温度最高的十年，而有记录以来最热的五年都是在最近五年。

"The upward trend is relentless, and so we can say with confidence that most of the warming is man-made climate change," said Kevin Trenberth, distinguished scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

国家大气研究中心的著名科学家凯文·特伦伯斯说:“气温上升的趋势是无情的，因此我们可以有把握地说，大部分的变暖是人为造成的气候变化。”

Why it matters

为什么它很重要

The reason that our oceans are warming at such an alarming rate is because they cover almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface. It's not just their surface area, though. The mass of the oceans far exceeds the mass of the atmosphere, so actually more than 90 percent of the planet's excess heat ends up in the ocean, with only 4 percent ending up in the atmosphere and the land. For this reason, ocean temperatures are a better barometer than atmospheric temperatures for measuring global warming.

我们的海洋正在以如此惊人的速度变暖，原因是它们覆盖了地球表面近四分之三的面积。不仅仅是表面积。海洋的质量远远超过大气的质量，所以实际上地球上超过90%的多余热量最终进入海洋，只有4%最终进入大气和陆地。因此，在测量全球变暖方面，海洋温度是一个比大气温度更好的晴雨表。

Warming ocean temperatures are also the main driving force behind climate change. More frequent and intense tropical storms have been linked to warmer oceans, and the temperature change has profound effects on atmospheric currents and global weather systems. Many of these changes are occurring at such a rapid rate that biological evolution can't keep up, which contributes to the global extinction crisis.

海洋温度升高也是气候变化的主要驱动力。更频繁和强烈的热带风暴被认为与海洋变暖有关，而温度变化对大气流和全球天气系统有着深远的影响。这些变化中有许多正以如此快的速度发生，以至于生物进化无法跟上，这导致了全球物种灭绝危机。

Furthermore, rising ocean temperatures cause widespread coral bleaching, and because roughly 25 percent of our ocean's biodiversity can be found around our coral reefs, that's what we stand to lose if these trends continue for much longer.

此外，不断上升的海洋温度导致了大面积的珊瑚白化，因为我们海洋中大约25%的生物多样性可以在我们的珊瑚礁周围找到，如果这种趋势继续下去，我们就会失去这些生物多样性。

There's no way to softball the results of this study, but scientists think it might still be possible to turn things around. It will take profound and immediate measures, but not impossible ones.

目前还没有办法对这项研究的结果进行预测，但科学家们认为仍有可能扭转局面。它将采取深远而直接的措施，但不是不可能的。

"If the leaders of the world changed course, a revolution could take place over about 15 years... this requires the leaders of China, and the U.S. in particular, along with Europe, to take a strong leadership role and set the stage for the rest of the world to follow," said Trenberth.

“如果世界领导人改变路线，一场革命可能在15年内发生……这要求中国领导人，特别是美国领导人，以及欧洲领导人，发挥强有力的领导作用，为世界其他国家的领导人效仿做好准备。”