CNN News:南极冰融化

Ice in Antarctica, there`s a lot of it. It doesn`t sound much like breaking news. But new information suggests it`s increasing and that`s puzzling some scientists because research over the last 10 years suggested that Antarctica is losing ice and that the melt is contributing to rising levels.

南极有很多的冰。这听起来不是什么惊人的消息。但是新的信息表明冰的数量在增加并且让一些科学家感到疑惑的是，过去十年的研究表明南极冰架正在融化，这导致水平面上升。

Last year, NASA reported that Antarctic sea ice reached a new record size. Now, it looks like the continent`s ice sheet is growing.

去年NASA称，南极洲冰的面积达到了历史新高。现在，似乎该大陆冰盖面积正在增加。

We know that sea levels around the world are rising and current thinking is that part of that sea level rise comes from melting ice in Antarctica. But one recent study from NASA scientists says that may not be the case.

我们知道，全球的海平面正在上升，现在人们认为海平面上升的部分原因是因为南极洲冰融化。但是，NASA科学家最近的一项研究表明，情况可能不是这样。

Antarctica is a big place, roughly the size of U.S. and Mexico combined. So, as you might expect, changes in its ice are not uniformed across the entire continent. Nearly, all scientists agree that ice is being lost from the western part of Antarctica and along its peninsula.

南极洲是个大地方，其面积相当于美国和莫斯科面积的总和。你可能期望，整个南极洲的冰面的变化并不一样。几乎所有的科学家都同意，南极洲西部地区以及沿海半岛冰正在消失。

On the eastern side, ice is actually being gained. But where this study is different is they measured that that gaining of ice long eastern Antarctica is outpacing the loss on the western side.

在南极洲东部地区，冰的数量实际在增加。但是，其研究不同之处在于，科学家测量的东部地区冰的增加数量超过了西部地区冰消失的数量。

What`s behind this addition of ice? It`s snowfalls that started becoming heavier around 10,000 years ago. The scientists know this by looking into ice core data. Why is this important? It would mean that Antarctica is not contributing to sea level rise.

除了冰，其背后还有什么?科学家们通过调查冰的核心数据知道大约在哦1万年前，南极洲的降雪量开始增加。为什么这一信息如此重要呢?因为，这就意味着，南极洲并未导致海平面上升。

Bottom line: there is still a lot we need to learn about how Antarctica is reacting to climate change.

结果：关于南极洲如何应对气候变化，我们还有很多需需要学习。