热浪袭击格陵兰岛，融化了110亿吨冰

热浪袭击格陵兰岛，融化了110亿吨冰

The record-breaking heat wave that covered much of Europe has now settled over Greenland. The warm temperatures have accelerated the melting of the country's ice sheet and caused extreme ice loss.

席卷欧洲大部分地区的创纪录热浪现在已经在格陵兰岛登陆。温暖的气温加速了该国冰盖的融化，并造成了极端的冰损失。

Greenland's ice sheet — which covers 80 percent of the island — typically melts in summer, beginning around the end of May. This year, however, it began earlier in the month and has been melting since then, primarily because the country has seen abnormally high temperatures. Greenland's capital city of Nuuk recorded temperatures in the high 50s this week; normal temperatures are about 10 degrees cooler.

格陵兰岛的冰盖覆盖了全岛80%的面积，通常在夏季融化，大约从5月底开始。然而，今年的冰川在本月早些时候开始融化，自那以来一直在融化，主要原因是该国经历了反常的高温。格陵兰岛首府努克本周的气温达到50多度;正常温度要低10度左右。

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Scientists say the ice sheet had its biggest melt of the year on Thursday when it lost 11 billion tons of surface ice to the oceans, CNN reports. That's roughly what would fill 4.4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to the news site.

据美国有线电视新闻网报道，科学家们表示，周四，冰盖发生了今年最大的一次融化，向海洋流失了110亿吨表面冰。据新闻网站报道，这大约相当于440万个奥运会规模的游泳池的容量。

Although the melt has likely peaked, it isn't over.

尽管融化可能已经达到顶峰，但还没有结束。

"The long-term forecast is for continuing warm and sunny weather in Greenland, so that means the amount of the ice loss will continue," Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, told the Associated Press. (And for a deeper dive into what's at play and what to expect, the Polar Portal, which is run by Danish research institutions, offers a much deeper explanation.)

丹麦气象研究所的气候科学家Ruth Mottram对美联社说:“长期的预测是格陵兰岛将持续温暖和晴朗的天气，这意味着冰的损失将会继续。”(为了更深入地了解正在发生什么，以及预期会发生什么，由丹麦研究机构运营的极地门户网站提供了更深入的解释。)

The heat wave that caused the melt is the same warm air from north Africa that triggered the heat wave in Europe last month, setting records in at least a dozen countries.

造成冰川融化的热浪和上个月在欧洲引发热浪的北非暖空气一样，至少在十几个国家创下了纪录。

July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and not just in Europe. A record-breaking heat wave settled over the East Coast and Midwest, affecting about one-third of the population of the U.S. and causing widespread power outages.

2019年7月是有记录以来最热的一个月，不仅是在欧洲。一股破纪录的热浪席卷美国东海岸和中西部，影响了大约三分之一的美国人口，并造成大面积停电。

This NASA image shows wildfire smoke over Russia in July 2019. The blanket of smoke was created by multiple fires extending across central and northern Asia. (Photo: NASA)

The hot, dry weather has also caused massive forest fires in Russia with high winds spreading the flames to nearly 11,580 square miles (30,000 square kilometers) of land, according to the AP.

据美联社报道，炎热干燥的天气还导致俄罗斯发生大规模森林火灾，大风将火势蔓延至近11580平方英里(30000平方公里)的土地。

Wildfires have also been burning across Alaska and Greenland, fueled by high temperatures and strong winds.

在高温和强风的推动下，阿拉斯加和格陵兰岛也发生了野火。

NASA has warned how these fires might play a role in global warming.

美国宇航局警告称，这些火灾可能会在全球变暖中发挥作用。

"One fire here and there is not a big deal, as far as immediate local weather and climate impacts," said Santiago Gassó, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a release. "But when you have so many fires continuously emitting, the smoke remains in the atmosphere for so long that it can actually change temperature profiles for several days and has a meteorological and climatic impacts."

美国国家航空航天局戈达德航天飞行中心的大气科学家圣地亚哥·加索在一份新闻稿中说:“只要发生一场火灾，对当地天气和气候的直接影响并不大。但当有这么多火灾持续排放时，烟雾会在大气中停留很长时间，它实际上可以在几天内改变温度分布，并对气象和气候产生影响。”