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WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- An international team of researchers funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) will travel next month to one of Antarctica's most active, remote and harsh spots to determine how changes in the waters circulating under an active ice sheet are causing a glacier1 to accelerate and drain into the sea, the U.S. space agency announced Wednesday.
The science expedition will be the most extensive ever deployed2 to Pine Island Glacier. It is the area of the ice-covered continent that concerns scientists most because of its potential to cause a rapid rise in sea level. Satellite measurements have shown this area is losing ice and surrounding glaciers3 are thinning, raising the possibility the ice could flow rapidly out to sea.
The multidisciplinary group of 13 scientists, led by Robert Bindschadler, emeritus4 glaciologist of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, will depart from the McMurdo Station in Antarctica in mid- December and spend six weeks on the ice shelf. During their stay, they will use a combination of traditional tools and sophisticated new oceanographic instruments to measure the shape of the cavity underneath5 the ice shelf and determine how streams of warm ocean water enter it, move toward the very bottom of the glacier and melt its underbelly.
"The project aims to determine the underlying6 causes behind why Pine Island Glacier has begun to flow more rapidly and discharge more ice into the ocean," said Scott Borg, director of NSF's Division of Antarctic Sciences, the group that coordinates7 all U.S. research in Antarctica. "This could have a significant impact on global sea-level rise over the coming century."
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1 glacier | |
n.冰川,冰河 | |
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2 deployed | |
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用 | |
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3 glaciers | |
冰河,冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
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4 emeritus | |
adj.名誉退休的 | |
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5 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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6 underlying | |
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的 | |
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7 coordinates | |
n.相配之衣物;坐标( coordinate的名词复数 );(颜色协调的)配套服装;[复数]女套服;同等重要的人(或物)v.使协调,使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 );协调;协同;成为同等 | |
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