首页
登录
职称英语
Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice at a faster and faster rate, accordi
Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice at a faster and faster rate, accordi
游客
2023-08-24
70
管理
问题
Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice at a faster and faster rate, according to a new study that has tracked the rate of melting in two independent ways. At this rate, melting ice sheets could dominate sea level rise in the 21st century.
The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested that sea levels could rise by 18 cm to 59 cm by 2100—but that estimate didn’t take the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets into account.
The new study, by Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues, could make things clearer. The team studied changes in the two ice sheets between 2002 and 2010 using two techniques. First they used data from the NASA GRACE satellite, which directly estimates the changes in the ice mass by measuring Earth’s gravity field over Greenland and Antarctica. The gravity field is influenced by changes in ice mass.
Next, they used a mass balance approach, which involves taking monthly measurements of glacier movement and ice thickness and plugging them into a regional climate model to estimate the net accumulation of snow and ice.
Both techniques broadly agreed on the quantity of ice being lost. They both confirmed, for example, that in 2006 the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica together lost a total of 475 gigatonnes. The two data sets also agree that the rate of mass loss from the ice sheets is increasing at about 36 gigatonnes per year—three times faster than the rate of mass loss from mountain glaciers and ice caps.
Because the two data sets agree both methods are validated. Measurements were taken using the mass balance approach for several years before the launch of GRACE in 2002, and indicate that melting has been on the increase for at least two decades.
"The mass loss is accelerating and it appears to have been accelerating for a while," says Isabella Velicogna of University of California at Irvine, a member of the research team.
If the ice sheets continue to melt faster and faster, sea levels could rise 56 cm by 2100, "which is much bigger than what we were thinking three years ago", says Velicogna. As such, ice sheets would become the dominant contributor to sea level rise this century.
While the study cannot separate out the effects of climate change from natural variability, the trend is worrying. "It fits into a pattern that we’d expect of ice sheet response to climate change," says glaciologist Ian Howat of the Ohio State University in Columbus. " Whatever processes are driving the mass loss are intensifying. The picture is getting worse, not better. " [br] The NASA GRACE satellite measured the Earth’s gravity field over Greenland and Antarctica so as to
选项
A、assess the changes in the ice mass
B、influence the changes in the ice mass
C、slow down the rate of ice losing
D、measure the rising sea level
答案
A
解析
细节辨认题。定位句介绍了美国国家航空航天局GRACE卫星通过测量格陵兰岛和南极洲上方的地球重力场来直接估计冰体质量的变化,因此答案为A)。B)“影响冰体质量的变化”,第三段末句说明冰体质量的变化会影响地球重力场,而不是通过测量重力场来影响冰体质量的变化,故排除;C)“减缓冰川融化的速度”和D)“测量不断升高的海平面”在文中都没有提及,故排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/2953882.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]Youngwomenarelosingfaithintheuniversitysystemwithne
[originaltext]Youngwomenarelosingfaithintheuniversitysystemwithne
[originaltext]Ourenvironmentisbeingpollutedfasterthannatureandman’
[originaltext]ThereisoneforeignproducttheJapanesearebuyingfastert
Accordingtothe"hygienehypothesis,"firstproposedin1989,exposuretoa
Accordingtothe"hygienehypothesis,"firstproposedin1989,exposuretoa
Accordingtothe"hygienehypothesis,"firstproposedin1989,exposuretoa
Accordingtothe"hygienehypothesis,"firstproposedin1989,exposuretoa
AccordingtothemostrecentAmericanFreshmansurvey,conductedannuallyby
AccordingtothemostrecentAmericanFreshmansurvey,conductedannuallyby
随机试题
IntheUnitedStates,36statescurrentlyallowcapitalpunishmentforserio
根据动机的性质与社会价值不同,动机划分为()A.生理型与社会性 B.主导性与辅
通过对机械故障规律的分析,可以了解故障的成因,制定相应的预防措施,减少机械故障的
通过设置文件的______,可以使其成为“只读”文件。A.类型 B.格式 C
A.逍遥散 B.知柏地黄丸 C.四逆散 D.龙胆泻肝汤 E.以上都不是阴
男性,73岁。近8个月来出现上腹部不适伴食欲缺乏,消瘦。近1个月出现皮肤巩膜黄染
A.窒息感 B.双下肢水肿 C.发热 D.咯血 E.昏迷二尖瓣狭窄出现呼
拉尔夫?达伦道夫在1998年写道:20世纪在相当大程度上为各种分裂所主宰,导致热
如图所示,一个边长为2厘米的正方形ABCD,对角线AC与BD交于点O,将正方形A
某工程监理合同签订后,监理单位负责人对该项目监理工作提出以下5点要求:
最新回复
(
0
)