Half the planets glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if humanity sticks to goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Research finds the scale and impacts of glacial loss are greater than previously thought.

Researchers found 49% of glaciers would disappear under the most optimistic scenario of 1.5°C of warming. However， if global heating continued under the scenario of more than 1.5°C of warming， losses would be more significant， according to a paper published in Science.

This will contribute to sea level rise， threaten the supply of water of up to 2 billion people， and increase the risk of natural hazards such as flooding. The study looked at all glacial land ice except for Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

即使人類堅(jiān)持巴黎氣候協(xié)議設(shè)定的目標(biāo)，到2100年，地球上一半的冰川也將融化。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，冰川消失的規(guī)模和影響比之前所認(rèn)為的要大。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，即使是在氣溫上升1.5攝氏度這樣最樂觀的情況下，也將會(huì)有49%的冰川消失。然而，根據(jù)發(fā)表在《科學(xué)》雜志上的一篇論文所顯示，如果全球在氣溫上升超過1.5攝氏度之后持續(xù)熱化，冰川消失的情況將更加嚴(yán)重。

這將使海平面上升，給多達(dá)20億人的供水構(gòu)成威脅，并增加洪水等自然災(zāi)害發(fā)生的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。這項(xiàng)研究調(diào)查了除格陵蘭島和南極冰蓋外的所有陸地冰川。

Mountain glacier melt is believed to contribute to more than a third of sea level rise. A lot of this loss is unavoidable， but the magnitude of glacier loss is directly related to temperature increases， so acting on the climate crisis is key. Researchers wrote in the paper： “The rapidly increasing glacier mass losses as global temperature increases beyond 1.5°C stresses the urgency of establishing more ambitious climate pledges to preserve the glaciers in these mountainous regions.”

人們認(rèn)為，超過三分之一的海平面上升是由高山冰川融化造成的。其中很多融化無法避免，但冰川消失的體量與氣溫上升有直接的關(guān)系。因此，采取行動(dòng)應(yīng)對(duì)氣候危機(jī)才是關(guān)鍵。研究人員在論文中寫到：“大量冰川因?yàn)槿驓鉁厣仙^1.5攝氏度而快速消失，這突出了制定更激進(jìn)的氣候公約來保護(hù)這些高山冰川的緊迫性?！?/p>

Word Bank

scale /ske?l/ n. 規(guī)模；范圍

optimistic /'?pt?'m?st?k/ adj. 樂觀的

threaten /'θretn/ v. 危及；對(duì)……構(gòu)成威脅

crisis /'kra?s?s/ n. 危機(jī)

urgency /'??d??nsi/ n. 緊急性；迫切性