评论
打印
I am on the bridge of the Nathaniel B. Palmer, a U.S. icebreaker that is slowly cruising along the coast of the coldest and most remote continent on Earth: Antarctica.
我在纳撒尼尔·B·帕尔默号(Nathaniel B. Palmer)的驾驶台上，这是一艘美国破冰船，它正缓慢地沿着地球上最寒冷、最偏远的大陆--南极洲的海岸巡航。
Thirty-five international researchers are onboard for a 60-day mission.
三十五名国际研究人员将参与一项为期60天的任务。
Their goal is to collect thousands of gallons of water, plus lots of sea ice, to help uncover the future of our oceans and Earth's climate.
他们的目标是收集数千加仑的水，以及大量的海冰，用它们来研究海洋和地球气候的未来。
Ooh, what is that?
哦，那是什么？
That's Phoebe Lam, a chemical oceanographer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
那是菲比·林，加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的化学海洋学家。
I think that's land. That's land-land ahoy! Ooh, how exciting!
我觉得那是陆地。那是陆地--看到陆地啦！哦，太兴奋了！
She is one of three scientists leading this cruise, and this is her third time in Antarctica.
她是领导这次航行的三位科学家之一，这是她第三次来南极洲。
Hey, it's our first land since-a while.
嘿，这是我们好久以来第一次踏上陆地。
Our journey started more than 20 days ago, when we left port in the small southern Chilean town of Punta Arenas at the end of November 2023.
我们的旅程始于20多天前，当时我们于2023年11月底离开智利南部小镇蓬塔阿雷纳斯的港口。
From there we spent about three days crossing the Drake Passage, the waterway that separates South America from Antarctica.
从那里，我们花了大约三天时间穿越德雷克海峡，这条海峡将南美洲和南极洲分隔开来。
This passage has some of the roughest waters in the world.
这条海峡有一些世界上最汹涌的水域。
We were lucky, though: the sea was calm.
我们很幸运，因为海面很平静。
Still, it took us another week to cross the Antarctic Circle at about 66.5 degrees south latitude and reach our current location: the Amundsen Sea, an embayment in West Antarctica that sits on a portion of the continental shelf larger than the state of Arizona.
不过，我们还是花了一周时间才穿过南纬约66.5度的南极圈，到达我们目前的位置：阿蒙森海，这是南极洲西部的一个海湾，位于比美国亚利桑那州还大的大陆架的一部分上。
This place is so remote that only a few research vessels have ventured here.
这个地方非常偏远，只有少数研究船只会冒险来到这里。
We are navigating in nearly uncharted, ever-changing waters.
我们正在几乎未知的、不断变化的水域中航行。
Well, that is the end of the iceberg there. Right. So that is the peninsula.
嗯，那是冰山的尽头。对。所以那里是半岛。
Through the large windows of the bridge, we see a five-mile-long iceberg.
透过驾驶台的大窗户，我们看到了一座5英里长的冰山。
It's so huge that we can't see where it begins or ends.
它非常大，我们看不到它的起点，也看不到它结束的位置。
The never-setting Antarctic summer sun shines above it.
南极夏日永不会落的太阳高悬在它上方。
Behind the berg a seemingly endless wall of ice rises from the sea like an enormous cake covered in white frosting.
冰山后面，一堵看似无边无际的冰墙从海面升起，就像一个巨大的蛋糕，上面覆盖着白色的糖霜。
It's the Getz Ice Shelf, neighbor to the famous Thwaites Glacier, which is also known as the “Doomsday Glacier.”
它是盖兹冰架，与著名的思韦茨冰川相邻，后者也被称为“末日冰川”。
If Thwaites were to collapse completely, the global sea level would rise so high that several of the world's major cities-such as Shanghai, New York, Miami, Tokyo and Mumbai-would be flooded.
如果思韦茨冰川完全崩塌，全球海平面将大幅上升，世界上几个主要城市--如上海、纽约、迈阿密、东京和孟买--都将被淹没。
Do you think we should slow down, or do you think we're okay to continue at 10?
你觉得我们应该慢下来，还是可以继续以10米每秒的速度前进？
The researchers decide to stop and set up a station.
研究人员决定停下来并建立一个站点。
That's what they call the places in the ocean where they collect samples.
站点就是他们说的在海洋中收集样本的地方。
Over the next two months we will stop at more than two dozen stations in West Antarctica.
在接下来的两个月里，我们将在南极洲西部的二十多个站点停留。
This region is home to the fastest-melting glaciers and ice shelves on the continent.
这个地区是该大陆上冰川和冰架融化速度最快的地方。
Together they lose about 90 billion tons of ice a year.
它们每年总共会失去约900亿吨冰。
By the time you are done listening to this episode, they will have pumped more than 3 million tons of ice and meltwater into the ocean.
在你听完这一集内容的时间里，这一地区就向海洋中注入了超过300万吨的冰和融水。
So, when people are worried about sea-level rise due to climate change, it's the West Antarctic ice sheet they're mostly worried about.
所以，人们说担心气候变化导致海平面上升，他们最担心的就是西南极冰盖。
And so the worry is that that melt and collapse could be quite fast.
令人担忧的是，这里的冰盖融化和崩塌的速度可能会相当快。
In West Antarctica, warmer seas are largely driving the ice melt.
在南极洲西部，温暖的海洋在很大程度上促进了冰层的融化。
Climate change has altered wind patterns, which, in turn, impact a layer of warm water that sits relatively deep in the sea.
气候变化改变了风向，这反过来又对一层相对较深的暖水层产生了影响。
While this water is generally just out of reach of the continental shelf, intensified winds are bringing it upward.
通常，这些水刚好位于大陆架的范围之外，但增强的风力正在将其往大陆架上推。
As a result the water is spilling over the continental shelf and more readily reaching the West Antarctic ice.
结果就是，海水漫过大陆架，更容易抵达南极洲西部的冰层。
