Soaring Temperatures Speed Up Spring Thaw on Greenland’s Ice Sheet

　　气温骤升使得春季的格陵兰冰盖正在加速融化

　　The Arctic spring thaw has begun with a bang, with extensive melting of the Greenland ice sheet and sea ice loss that is already several weeks ahead of normal, scientists said.

　　科学家们表示，春季的北极已经开始冰雪消融，格陵兰岛冰盖的大面积融化和海冰的消融相较于以往正常情况提前了几周。

　　A stagnant zone of high-pressure air over Greenland last week brought warm air from the south, raising temperatures as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. That, coupled with cloudless conditions, led to a pulse of melting across much of the ice sheet surface.

　　上周，格陵兰岛上空形成的高压空气停滞区留住了来自南方的暖空气，使气温比正常水平高出了40华氏度。再加上无云的天气状况，导致冰盖表面大部分融化。

　　Melting last Wednesday was the most extensive, at 275,000 square miles, or about 45 percent of the surface, said Marco Tedesco, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of Columbia University.

　　哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球观测站的地球物理学家马可·特德斯科说，上周三的融化面积最大，达到了27.5万平方英里，约占冰盖表面积的45%。

　　That represents a record early date for such extensive melting, which has been measured by satellites since 1979. In 2012, an exceptionally warm year in the Arctic, there was slightly greater melting a few days later in June.

　　这是自1979年采取卫星测量以来，观测到冰盖大规模融化创纪录性提前的日期。2012年是北极异常温暖的一年，那年6月晚些时候北极冰川的融化量略有增大。

　　The early melt is in keeping with the overall trend in the Arctic, where the warming effects of climate change are amplified. Overall, the region is warming about twice as fast as the global average.

　　格陵兰岛冰盖提早融化符合北极变化的总体趋势，北极地区因气候变化导致的温室效应会被放大。总的来说，北极地区变暖的速度是全球平均速度的两倍。

　　But day-to-day conditions in the Arctic can vary, and by Saturday somewhat cooler air led to reduced melting of about 215,000 square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, in Boulder, Colo.

　　但据科罗拉多州博尔德市的国家冰雪数据中心的数据，北极地区的日常情况可能差别很大，到周六，些许冷空气可能会使冰盖融化面积缩小到21.5万平方英里。

　　(全文共227个词，纽约时报)

　　重难点词汇：

　　stagnant ['stægnənt] adj. 停滞的；不景气的；污浊的；迟钝的

　　slightly ['slaɪtli] adv. 些微地，轻微地；纤细地，瘦小的

　　amplify ['æmplɪfaɪ] vt. 放大，扩大；增强；详述 vi. 详述

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