用数以百万计的玻璃珠来阻止北极融化

工程师有一个大胆的计划，用数以百万计的玻璃珠帮助阻止北极融化

The Arctic is melting at unprecedented rates: Greenland's ice is disappearing six times faster than it was four decades ago. In August, the ice sheet lost 60 billion tons in just five days of summer thaw.

北极正在以前所未有的速度融化：格陵兰岛的冰正在以比40年前快6倍的速度消失。今年8月，冰盖仅在夏季解冻的5天内就损失了600亿吨。

Over the last four decades, we've lost 75 percent of the volume of Arctic ice. The current extent of the sea ice is the second-lowest it's been since scientists started keeping track in 1979.

在过去的四十年里，我们失去了75%的北极冰。目前的海冰范围是自1979年科学家开始记录以来的第二低。

In addition to raising sea levels, this melting significantly contributes to climate change because Arctic ice reflects sunlight into space (in part because sea ice is bright and white). So less ice means less heat leaving the planet, which in turn leads more ice to melt. It's a vicious cycle.

除了海平面上升，北极冰的融化还会对气候变化产生重大影响，因为北极冰会将阳光反射到太空中(部分原因是北极冰是明亮的白色)。所以更少的冰意味着更少的热量离开地球，这反过来导致更多的冰融化。这是一个恶性循环

A nonprofit called Ice911 offers a potential solution to this ominous feedback loop: The group has proposed blanketing key parts of the Arctic in millions of hollow, glass microspheres to form a protective layer that reflects sunlight and insulates melting ice.

一个名为Ice911的非营利组织为这种不祥的反馈循环提供了一种潜在的解决方案:该组织提议用数百万个中空的玻璃微球覆盖北极的关键部分，形成一层保护层，反射阳光，隔离融化的冰。

The tiny spheres Ice911 has developed look more like grains of sand than beads. They're manufactured from silica, a compound made of silicon and oxygen, because the material is abundant in the natural world and harmless to humans and animals.

ICE911的小球看起来更像是沙粒而不是珠子。它们是用硅制造的，硅和氧是一种化合物，因为这种材料在自然界中含量丰富，对人和动物无害。

The reflective beads stick to ice and water on contact, and their chemical composition ensures they don't attract oil-based pollutants. Simulations done by Ice911 suggest that using the technology to restore ice reflectivity could help lower temperatures by 1.5 degrees Celsius over a large part of the northern Arctic.

反光珠子与冰和水接触时会粘在一起，它们的化学成分确保它们不会吸引油基污染物。ICE911所做的模拟表明，利用这项技术恢复冰的反射率，可以帮助北极北部大部分地区降低1.5摄氏度的温度。

But so far, the technology is still in the field-test phase.

但到目前为止，这项技术还处于实地测试阶段。