美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ice in the Arctic is melting even faster than scientists expected, study finds

Ice in the Arctic is melting even faster than scientists expected, study finds

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to scientists Melinda Webster with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, about implications for the rest of the globe. She's on an icebreaker ship to examine ice melt.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Arctic ice is melting even more rapidly than scientists previously² believed. A study from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute finds parts of the Arctic are warming up to seven times faster than temperatures across the planet. That has implications for the global climate and for scientists, including Melinda Webster of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She ventures into the Arctic on an icebreaker to examine ice melt as it's happening.

MELINDA WEBSTER: There's nothing quite like walking on sea ice. It's this floating platform in the middle of the ocean. You're like, whoa, this is pretty surreal. It's really quite interesting.

INSKEEP: Can you feel it moving beneath your feet?

WEBSTER: (Laughter) Hopefully not. If you do feel that, that's usually a bad sign that something is about to break up. Usually it's pretty stable. But it does move. It can go up to, you know, several miles a day in motion.

INSKEEP: And you must be out there sometimes in a place where you see nothing but the icebreaker and just white.

WEBSTER: Oh, absolutely. And it's not that dreary³. It's actually a stunning⁴ environment. It's so beautiful, all the shades of blue and gray. It's really quite dramatic.

INSKEEP: Is that what draws you to it?

WEBSTER: That's part of the reason that draws me to it. It's such a remote and stunning environment. It seems like another planet. It's hard to really put words to it. But it's so beautiful and so stark⁵.

INSKEEP: How long you been doing this?

WEBSTER: I began researching sea ice as a student in 2009, so quite a while now.

INSKEEP: Is that enough time for the ice to have changed or the patterns to have changed?

WEBSTER: The ice has absolutely changed in that time. It's been changing profoundly over the years, over the decades. I mean, the loss in ice over the past three decades is just stark. It's really eye-opening.

INSKEEP: So when you see this study which finds that Arctic temperatures have gone up even more than people realized, did that surprise you?

WEBSTER: It does, yeah. And, you know, there's a lot to unpack⁶ in that study, like the feedbacks of that. So sea ice strongly affects the atmosphere, and the atmosphere strongly affects the sea ice. And there's also the ocean included in that, being affected⁷ and affecting those two components⁸. So there's a lot of interconnectedness in climate. And to see that study means, wow, you know, things are changing faster than we expected. And we've also seen that with sea ice change and what the models project. It's melting much faster than we anticipated based on the climate model projections⁹.

INSKEEP: What are the global effects of having no sea ice if we got to that point?

WEBSTER: So sea ice is kind of like the air conditioning unit for our planet. It really helps regulate our climate and keep things cool. And without that, we're going to have warming become enhanced. It's going to warm faster and faster because what sea ice does is really a service to us. It reflects the majority of sunlight back into space during summer. It acts like a thermal¹⁰ blanket in winter, trapping the heat in the ocean and keeping the atmosphere cool. And without those two big things that it does, it's going to make our climate warmer. As a whole, in general, the climate models all agree that the Arctic will become ice-free by 2050. So that's, you know, 30 years. And there is a large uncertainty¹¹ with that, but the fact that all of them tend to agree is really eye-opening. You know, that's within our lifetime.

INSKEEP: Melinda Webster, thanks so much. It's been a pleasure talking with you.

WEBSTER: You're most welcome. Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

4 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

5 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

6 unpack   

vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货

参考例句：

• I must unpack before dinner.我得在饭前把行李打开。
• She said she would unpack the items later.她说以后再把箱子里的东西拿出来。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

9 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

10 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。