气候科学家在格陵兰岛的冰川底部发现了令人不安的迹象

气候科学家在格陵兰岛的冰川底部发现了令人不安的迹象

On one of the hottest days of the summer, locals in the small village of Kulusuk,Greenland, heard an explosion.It was the crack of ice on a glacier five miles away.

在今年夏天最热的一天，格陵兰岛库鲁苏克的一个小村庄里，当地人听到了爆炸声。原来是五英里外的冰川上冰块裂开的声音。

Greenland lost 12.5 billion tons of ice to melting on August 2, the largest single-day loss in recorded history and another stark reminder of the climate crisis.

8月2日，格陵兰岛因融化而损失125亿吨冰，这是历史上单日损失最大的一次，也是对气候危机再次强烈的提醒。

Kulusuk is also base camp for NASA's OMG (Oceans Melting Greenland) program. OMG scientists traveled to the world's biggest island this year after a heatwave scorched the United States and Europe, smashing temperature records and triggering the mass melting of its ice sheet.

库鲁苏克也是美国宇航局OMG(海洋融化格陵兰岛)项目的大本营。OMG的科学家们今年前往世界上最大的岛屿，此前美国和欧洲遭受热浪的炙烤，打破了气温记录，引发了冰盖的大规模融化。

NASA oceanographer Josh Willis and his team are investigating how the ice is being attacked not only by rising air temperatures but also by the warming ocean, which is eating it away from underneath.

美国宇航局海洋学家乔希·威利斯和他的团队正在调查冰层是如何受到不断上升的空气温度和不断变暖的海洋的侵蚀的，海洋正在从下面吞噬着冰层。

A remodeled World War II DC-3 plane, now called Basler BT-57, takes a group of OMG researchers around the coast of Greenland. From the air the crew launch special probes through the ice floor, which then transmit data on temperature and salinity.

一架改型的二战DC-3飞机，现在被称为Basler BT-57，载着一群OMG的研究人员在格陵兰岛海岸飞行。宇航员们从空中发射特殊的探测器穿过冰层，然后传送温度和盐度的数据。

"There is enough ice in Greenland to raise the sea levels by 7.5 meters, that's about 25 feet, an enormous volume of ice, and that would be devastating to coastlines all around the planet," said Willis. "We should be retreating already from the coastline if we are looking at many meters [lost] in the next century or two."

威利斯说:“格陵兰岛有足够的冰使海平面上升了7.5米，也就是约25英尺，这是一个巨大的冰量，这将对全球海岸线造成毁灭性的影响。”他说:“如果我们在未来一两个世纪看到海平面下降很多米，我们应该已经从海岸线撤退了。

As our plane approached Helheim, the scientists spotted an ice-free "lake" at the very front of the glacier, something they said they don't see often. The probes also brought back troubling data -- Helheim was surrounded by warm water, more than 2,000 feet below the surface.

当我们的飞机接近赫尔海姆岛时，科学家们在冰川的最前端发现了一个不结冰的“湖”，他们说这是他们不常看到的。探测器还带回了一些令人不安的数据——赫尔海姆岛被温暖的海水包围着，水深超过2000英尺。

"It's very rare anywhere on the planet to see 700 meters of no temperature variation, normally we find colder waters in the upper hundred meters or so, but right in front of the glacier it's warm all the way up," said Ian Fenty, climate scientist at NASA. "These warm waters now are able to be in direct contact with the ice over its entire face, supercharging the melting."

美国国家航空航天局气候科学家伊恩·芬蒂说:“在地球上任何地方，700米没有温度变化的情况都是非常罕见的，通常我们会在上百米左右的地方发现更冷的水，但就在冰川的正前方，温度一直在上升。”“这些温暖的海水现在能够直接接触到整个表面的冰，加速融化。

Helheim has become famous in recent years as it has been retreating at a stunning rate. In 2017, the glacier lost a whopping two miles, and a year later scientists from New York University captured a miles-long ice column break off the glacier's front. The melt doesn't seem to be slowing this year either.

近年来，赫尔海姆以惊人的速度撤退，并因此而出名。2017年，这座冰川异常地损失了两英里，一年后，纽约大学的科学家们发现一个长达一英里的冰柱从冰川前端断裂。今年融化似乎也没有减缓。