纪录片《冰冻星球》 第77期 履于薄冰（9）（在线收听）

This cycle of warming, as huge areas start to absorb rather than

广阔的区域并不反射而是吸收热量

reflect heat, is the main reason why the Arctic,

因而 和北美面积一样大的北极区域

a region the size of North America,

变暖速度是地球其他地方的两倍

is warming twice as fast as the rest of the Earth.

而这个热循环就是罪魁祸首

So, melting sea ice is a big issue.

正在融化的冰雪是个大问题

But there's another kind of ice that could have an even more

但还有另外一种冰雪可能会对我们的世界

dramatic impact on our world.

造成更深刻的影响

The ice that is found on land.

那就是在陆地上的冰川

This is fresh water ice,

这是淡水冰

formed from thousands of years of accumulated snowfall.

是由过去数千年里不断的降雪积累而成的

This is the front of a glacier,

不管你信不信

quite a small one, believe it or not.

这是一块非常小冰川的正面

Glaciers are like rivers of frozen fresh water

冰川就像是冰冻的淡水河

flowing across the surface of the land.

在陆地上纵横交错

This one, like most polar glaciers,

像大多数两极冰川一样 这块冰川

is flowing down from a vast inland ice sheet.

正从一块巨大的内陆冰原上缓缓流下

And it's what happens to those ice sheets

在这些冰原上发生的变化

that could radically alter the face of the planet.

会彻底改变地球的面貌

The Greenland ice sheet is by far the largest in the Arctic.

格林兰冰原是目前北极最大的冰原

It's two miles thick in places

有些地方有两英里厚

and six times the size of the United Kingdom.

面积是英国面积的六倍