2022年Globalwarming学习笔记

1、学习必备欢迎下载global warming the vanishing（消失） north there are benefits in the melting of the arctic, but the risks are much greater now that summer is here, the arctic （北极地区）is crowded with life. phytoplankton（浮游植物）are blooming in its chilly seas. fish, birds and whales are gorging on （饱吃）them. millions

2、of migratory （流浪的）geese are in their northern breeding grounds（滋生地，繁殖地）. and the area is teeming with（富于， 充满）scientists, performing a new arctic ritual(惯例，仪式 ). between now and early september, when the polar（极地的）pack ice（浮冰块） shrivels （皱缩） to its summer minimum, they will pore over（注视，集中精力阅读） the d

3、aily sea ice reports of americas national snow and ice data centre. its satellite data will show that the ice has shrunk far below（远低于）the long-term average. this is no anomaly（异常，反常事物）: since the 1970s the sea ice has retreated（撤退） by around 12% each decade. last year the summer minimum was 4.33m s

4、quare km (1.67m square miles) almost half the average for the 1960s. 精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 1 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 1 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -学习必备欢迎下载the arctics glaciers（冰川） , including those of greenlands vast(广阔的) ice cap （冰

5、盖）, are retreating. the land is thawing （融化）: the area covered by snow in june is roughly （概略的）a fifth less than in the 1960s. the permafrost （永久冻土） is shrinking. alien plants, birds, fish and animals are creeping （爬行，慢慢移动） north: atlantic mackerel（鱼类，鲭） , haddock（黑线鳕）and cod（鳕鱼） are coming up in ar

6、ctic nets. some arctic species will probably die out（灭绝） . perhaps not since the 19th-century clearance（清除） of americas forests has the world seen such a spectacular（惊人的） environmental change. it is a stunning （极好的） illustration（例证） of global warming, the cause of the melt. it also contains grave （重

7、大的） warnings of its dangers. the world would be mad to ignore them. less feedback, pleaseas our special report （专题报道） shows in detail, the arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the planet. since the 1950s the lower atmosphere has warmed by a global average of 0.7 degrees celsius（摄氏度

8、）; greenland s air has warmed by 1.5 degrees. the main reason appears to be a catalytic warming effect, triggered by global warming. when snow or ice melt, they are replaced by darker melt-water pools, land or sea. as a result, the arctic surface absorbs more solar heat. this causes local warming, t

9、herefore more melting, which causes more 精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 2 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 2 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -学习必备欢迎下载warming, and so on. this positive feedback shows how even a small change to the earths systems can trigge

10、r much greater ones.some scientists also see a tipping-point another feared term in the climatology lexiconin the accelerating diminution of the sea ice. the term describes the moment at which the planet shifts from one environmental state to another: in this case, from an arctic with summer sea ice

11、 to one without it. by the end of this century perhaps much soonerthere will probably be frequent summers with no sea ice at all. arctic peoples have also noticed what is going on. inuit hunters are finding the sea ice too thin to bear their sleds. arctic governments are starting to see a bonanza in

12、 the melt. the arctic is stocked with minerals that were hitherto largely inaccessible, including an estimated 30% of undiscovered reserves of natural gas and 13% of undiscovered oil reserves. a combination of high commodity prices, proactive governments, technological progress and melting ice will

13、help bring these to market. encouraged by arctic governments and dwindling reserves elsewhere, oil companies are flocking north like migrating geese to explore the continental shelves of alaska, canada, greenland, norway and russia. canada and russia also hope to develop their arctic shipping-lanes,

14、 which the melt is making accessible. russias northern sea route, hugging the siberian coast, cuts the normal distance between 精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 3 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 3 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -学习必备欢迎下载europe and asia by

15、more than a third. it will help ferry russias arctic resources to asian markets, and could one day be a wider boost to world trade. these exciting developments carry risks, however. many fear for arctic culturesa canadian inuit argues despairingly for her “right to be cold”. others foresee conflict

16、between arctic countries scrambling for the region s resources. greens warn of environmental risks in developing them: a big oil spill would be disastrous for fragile arctic ecosystems. the igloos have gonesuch fears are reasonable, but often exaggerated. traditional arctic peoples have been changed

17、 far more by westernisation than they will be by melting ice. none lives in an igloo these days. and everywhere except russia their rights have been recognised. nor is conflict much of a worry. the arctic is no terra nullius. most of it is demarcated, and arctic countries have a commercial incentive

18、 to keep the peace. last year russia and norway settled an old dispute over their maritime border; soon they will open the border region to oil firms. the risks of pollution from bilge water, mining effluent and spilt oil are real. yet the arctic is not unprotected: it is, by and large, among the mo

19、st regulated oil provinces. its development will also be slower and more 精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 4 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -精品学习资料 可选择p d f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 第 4 页，共 6 页 - - - - - - - - -学习必备欢迎下载cautious than greens fear. even with little sea ice, the arctic will rema

20、in forbiddingly cold, remote, stormy and therefore expensive to operate in. the worry that needs to be taken most seriously is climate change itself. the impact of the melting arctic may have a calamitous effect on the planet. it is likely to disrupt oceanic circulationthe mixing of warm tropical an

21、d cold polar waters, of which the gulf stream is a part and thawing permafrost will lead to the emission of masses of carbon dioxide and methane, and thus further warming. it is also raising sea levels. the greenland ice sheet has recently shed around 200 gigatonnes of ice a year, a fourfold increas

22、e on a decade ago. if the warming continues, it could eventually disintegrate, raising the sea level by seven metres. many of the world s biggest cities would be inundated long before that happened. some scientists argue that the perils are so immediate that mankind should consider geoengineering the atmosphere to avert them (see article). they may turn out to be right, but there could be enormous risks involved. a