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  3. Every 101 minutes or so, a Department of Defense imaging satellite circles t

Every 101 minutes or so, a Department of Defense imaging satellite circles t

游客2024-09-23  30
问题     Every 101 minutes or so, a Department of Defense imaging satellite circles the Earth, capturing images from the equator to the polar ice caps. It’s that DOD drone(colorfully named the DMSPF-17)that monitors geologic changes, such as the decreasing size of the Arctic and Antarctic ice covers. The images it snaps are the ones most people see of the Earth’s two white domes, which have been steadily diminishing for the past decade.
    Skimming over the top of the world feels a bit like being on a different planet, according to Rick Steiner, a marine conservation researcher at the University of Alaska. For the past two years, Steiner has led research missions flying low over thousands of miles of Arctic seas for a handful of polar climate scientists, some of whom work for the federal government. He times the daylong voyage to coincide with the time of year when sea ice is at a minimum, the exact end of summer melting in mid-September, before the autumn cool begins to refreeze some of the water. Having lived in Alaska for 30 years, Steiner can tell you in personal detail how the minimum has shrunk from year to year. He calls the voyage his annual "bearing witness to the Arctic crisis" trip.
    The crisis has been mapped out in precise detail in slide shows and research papers, with startling statistics. The past three summers have seen the lowest ice volume ever recorded, according to data released annually by the National Snow and Ice Data Center(NSIDC). The sea-ice minimum in 2007(1.6 million square miles)was the single lowest year, with nearly 40 percent less ice than the seasonal average recorded over the past three decades. And the problem is only expected to worsen. As the ice melts, it releases highly concentrated carbon and methane(甲烷)that is locked in the permafrost(永冻层), creating an accelerating warming loop. An additional compounding factor is that dark oceans absorb more of the sun’s energy than light-colored ice, which reflects a large portion of it. That means that the more ice melts over the summer, the more open ocean there is, which leads to more absorbed energy and warmer oceans, which means that less ice forms the following winter, which leads to even more open ocean the following year. Early this past summer, researchers thought 2009 would be even worse than 2007 in terms of melting, until a late-arriving wind from the equator brought cool air that prevented even more melting.
    "When you’re actually looking out the window and seeing mile after mile of warm ocean water where there used to be sea ice that you once walked around on, it gives you the certainty that something major is going on there," says James Overland, a marine environmental researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The thickness of the ice and water temperatures—which were also measured at disturbingly high levels by Steiner and his team this year—are also measurements you can’t make by peering at satellite images. [br] What is another important factor to accelerate the warming loop?
选项 A、Dark oceans absorb more of the sun’s energy than light-colored ice.
B、There is more carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles.
C、The wind from the equator is less and less from year to year.
D、Human’s behavior brings damage to Arctic and Antarctic ice covers.
答案 A
解析 细节题。由第三段第六句可知，另一个加速气温上升的因素是深色的海水要比浅色的冰吸收更多的太阳能，所以[A]为正确答案。[B]、[C]和[D：在本文都没有被提及，所以都排除。
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