北極異常升溫讓科學家不解

Scientists are struggling to understand why a burst of “scary” warming at the North Pole has pushed Arctic temperatures nearly 20C higher than normal for this time of year.

科學家們感到費解，北極突然出現的“可怕”變暖爲何會導致北極氣溫較同期水平高出近20攝氏度。

Experts in the US and Europe say they have been shocked by the soaring temperatures recorded in November, when much of the region is plunged into freezing winter darkness.

美國和歐洲的專家表示，今年11月錄得的不斷飆升的氣溫讓他們感到震驚，這個時候北極地區很多地方進入冰冷的極夜。

Temperatures this month have been as high as almost minus 5C when they are normally closer to minus 25C.

北極本月氣溫最高曾逼近零下5攝氏度，而通常在零下25攝氏度左右。

“We’ve been processing this data since 1958 and we haven’t really seen anything like this at this time of year,” said Rasmus Tonboe, a sea ice expert at the Danish Meteorological Institute. “We are watching the situation and trying to analyse what is going on but it’s very surprising.”

“我們從1958年開始處理這些數據，我們確實沒有在一年中的這個時候看到過這麼高的氣溫，”丹麥氣象研究所(Danish Meteorological Institute)的海冰專家拉斯穆斯.湯波(Rasmus Tonboe)表示，“我們正在關注這一情況，試圖分析其中的原因，但這非常奇怪。”

The unusual warmth has come as officials at the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said they were 95 per cent sure that 2016 would be the hottest year since records began in the 19th century. It would mean that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record have been this century.

在北極出現不同尋常的變暖之際，聯合國世界氣象組織(World Meteorological Organisation)的官員稱，他們有95%的把握相信，2016年將是自19世紀有記錄以來最熱的一年。這將意味着，在有記錄以來的17個最熱年份中，有16個出現在本世紀。