热浪在几天内融化了南极岛20%的积雪

热浪在几天内融化了南极岛20%的积雪

Antarctica's Eagle Island now has a side that's almost ice-free following this month's searing heat wave in the region, images released by NASA show.

NASA公布的图片显示，在经历了这个月的灼热热浪后，南极洲的鹰岛现在有一侧几乎没冰了。

"The warm spell caused widespread melting on nearby glaciers," NASA said in its report. It's the third major melt event of the 2019–2020 Southern Hemisphere summer, following warm spells in January and last November, according to the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

NASA在报告中称:“温暖期导致附近冰川大面积融化。”根据联合国世界气象组织(WMO)的数据，这是继今年1月和去年11月的温暖期之后，2019-2020年南半球夏季的第三次主要融冰事件。

Such persistent warmth was not typical in Antarctica until the 21st century, but it has become more common in recent years."

“这种持续的温暖直到21世纪才在南极洲出现，但近年来已变得越来越普遍。”

— NASA statement

-美国宇航局声明

The island "experienced peak melt" — about 1 inch — on the day of the reported heat record, leading to a loss of 4 inches in total within 10 days, NASA said in a statement Friday.

美国宇航局在周五的一份声明中说，在报告的高温记录当天，该岛“经历了峰值融化”(约1英寸)，导致10天内总共损失了4英寸。

"About 20% of seasonal snow accumulation in the region melted in this one event on Eagle Island," the statement added.

声明还说：“在鹰岛发生的这一事件中，该地区约20%的季节性积雪融化了。”

Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist at Nichols College, who observed the warming event as 0.9 square miles of snowpack became saturated with meltwater, said in NASA's report: "I haven’t seen melt ponds develop this quickly in Antarctica. You see these kinds of melt events in Alaska and Greenland, but not usually in Antarctica."

观察到了0.9平方英里的积雪被融水浸透的暖化事件的科学家——尼科尔斯学院(Nichols College)的冰川学家莫里·佩尔托(Mauri Pelto)，在美国宇航局(NASA)的报告中说：“我从未见过南极的融水池发展得如此之快。我们可以在阿拉斯加和格陵兰岛看到这类融化事件，但在南极洲通常看不到。”

Of note: The event comes after scientists in January found for the first time warm water beneath Antarctica's "doomsday glacier," so-called because it's one of the region's fastest melting glaciers.

值得注意的是，今年1月，科学家们首次在南极洲的“末日冰川”下发现了温暖的海水。所谓“末日冰川”，是因为它是该地区融化速度最快的冰川之一。

The bottom line: "If you think about this one event in February, it isn't that significant," Pelto said. "It's more significant that these events are coming more frequently."

归根结底:“如果你想想2月份的这一事件，就会发现它并没有那么重要，”佩尔托说。“更重要的是，这些事件越来越频繁。”