Where there was a white ice cap, there are now brown blotches of land; melted snow and ice have created ponds of water. Those are the effects of the recent record high temperatures in Antarctica, according to NASA, which on Friday released stunning before-and-after satellite images of the northern Antarctic Peninsula.
以前是白色的冰帽，现在变成了陆地上褐色的斑点;融化的冰雪形成了水塘。据美国国家航空航天局(NASA)称，这些都是最近南极洲创纪录的高温造成的影响。NASA周五发布了南极半岛北部令人震撼的前后卫星图像。
The photos center on Eagle Island, part of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula that stretches toward South America. Satellites took the images just nine days apart, on Feb. 4 and Feb. 13. But dramatic changes took place in that time span. Two days after the first photo was taken, the area hit 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) — matching that day's temperature in Los Angeles, NASA notes.
这些照片集中在鹰岛上，这是南极半岛北端的一部分，一直延伸到南美洲。卫星拍摄图像的时间间隔只有9天，分别是2月4日和2月13日。但在这段时间里发生了戏巨大的变化。NASA指出，第一张照片拍摄两天后，该区域达到了18.3摄氏度(64.9华氏度)-与当天洛杉矶的温度相当。
"The warm spell caused widespread melting on nearby glaciers," the space agency says. "Such persistent warmth was not typical in Antarctica until the 21st century, but it has become more common in recent years."
“温暖的天气导致附近冰川大范围融化，”航天局说。“这种持续的温暖直到21世纪才在南极出现，但近年来已经变得更加普遍。”
On Eagle Island, the biggest loss of ice and snow came on Feb. 6. when an inch of snowpack melted, according to NASA's climate models. By Feb. 11. the island had lost 4 inches of snow.
根据美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的气候模型，2月6日，鹰岛的冰雪损失最大，积雪融化了一英寸。到2月11日，岛上的积雪已经减少了4英寸。
"I haven't seen melt ponds develop this quickly in Antarctica," Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist at Nichols College in Massachusetts, said in NASA's news release about the phenomenon.
“我还没见过南极的融冰池发展得这么快，”马萨诸塞州尼科尔斯学院的冰冰学家毛里·佩尔托在NASA关于这一现象的新闻发布会上说。
The nearly 65-degree temperature was reported by Argentina's research station at Esperanza Base. Experts at the World Meteorological Organization are still verifying the record. The agency calls the Antarctic Peninsula one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth, with average temperatures rising almost 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past half century.
阿根廷位于埃斯佩兰萨基地的研究站报告了近65摄氏度的气温。世界气象组织的专家仍在核实这一记录。该机构称南极半岛是地球上变暖最快的地区之一，在过去的半个世纪里，平均气温上升了近3摄氏度(5.4华氏度)。
"These warm events are occurring more frequently" in that part of the peninsula, says Alexandra Isern, head of Antarctic sciences at the National Science Foundation.
国家科学基金会南极科学负责人亚历山德拉·伊桑说，在南极半岛的这一地区，“这些温暖的事件发生得越来越频繁”。
"You see those sort of things in Greenland and in the Arctic more often than you see them in the Antarctic," Isern says.
“你在格陵兰岛和北极看到这类东西的次数要比在南极看到的多，”伊桑说。
Because the recent warmup lasted for more than a week, she says, researchers are left with a troubling question: "Are we starting to see these warm events also lasting longer than they did before?"
她说，由于最近的暖化持续了一个多星期，研究人员面临一个令人不安的问题:“我们是否开始看到这些暖化事件比以前持续得更久了?”
The answer to that, Isern says, could have far-ranging impacts for the area, including the possibility that new invasive species could gain a foothold in Antarctica if its climate becomes more forgiving.
伊桑说，这个问题的答案可能会对该地区产生深远的影响，包括如果气候变得更加适宜，新的入侵物种可能会在南极洲立足。
Isern agrees with NASA's assessment that a number of weather conditions combined to create the unusually high temperatures in the Antarctic's northern point.
伊桑同意NASA的评估即一系列的天气条件共同导致了南极北端的异常高温。
"Typically, the peninsula is shielded from warm air masses by the Southern Hemisphere westerlies, a band of strong winds that circle the continent," NASA says. "However, the westerlies were in a weakened state, which allowed the extra-tropical warm air to cross the Southern Ocean and reach the ice sheet. Sea surface temperatures in the area were also higher than average by about 2-3°C."
NASA表示:“通常情况下，南半球西风带(环绕南极大陆的一圈强风)会使南极半岛免受暖气团的影响。”“然而，西风带的风力较弱，这使得热带以外的暖空气得以穿过南冰洋到达冰原。该地区的海面温度也比平均温度高2-3℃。”
The task now, Isern says, is to determine whether those factors created an anomaly or whether they hint at a new pattern.
伊桑说，现在的任务是确定这些因素是造成了异常，还是暗示了一种新的模式。
"This is a weather event," she says of the recent warm spell. She believes scientists will now try to figure out whether the warm weather event in Antarctica's northern peninsula is on its way to becoming a climate event.
“这是一个天气事件，”她在谈到最近的温暖天气时说。她认为，科学家们现在将试图弄清楚，南极洲北部半岛的温暖天气事件是否即将成为气候事件。
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