Citizen scientists help to document changes to lake ice in the northern U.S.

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Citizen scientists help to document changes to lake ice in the northern U.S.

Transcript¹

Climate change has contributed to a loss of ice on northern lakes and ponds, and that has consequences for local ecosystems². In the 1980s, a lake researcher needed volunteers to help collect data.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Climate change has contributed to reducing ice on northern lakes and ponds in wintertime with important consequences for their ecosystems. Reporter Emma Jacobs introduces us to some of the citizen scientists helping³ to document those changes in the northern U.S.

EMMA JACOBS, BYLINE⁴: In the 1980s, an enthusiastic lake researcher named Ken⁵ Stewart started looking for volunteers.

GERALD BOVE: He would recruit people using the local chamber⁶ of commerce, sporting goods stores. He would go in and speak to people about who might live on a lake.

JACOBS: This is Stewart's former student, Gerald Bove. He says Stewart's recruits started recording⁷ the dates of the winter freeze and spring thaw⁸ for their lakes, more than a thousand across five northern states. They sent them by postcard to Stewart, nicknamed the Ice Man by his colleagues at the University at Buffalo⁹.

BOVE: His wife, Ardis (ph), made him retire from actually going out on the ice at some point in his early 80s. She said, I really don't want you going out on too many more frozen lakes.

JACOBS: Stewart's now 90. But his network is still collecting data.

DOUG FITZGERALD: So there's a little skim of ice here. Not right there.

JACOBS: Doug Fitzgerald (ph) has trudged¹⁰ out by foot and in his truck to track seven lakes and ponds in northern New York since 1992.

FITZGERALD: Well, I was a young man when I started. So (laughter) now, not so much. So...

JACOBS: Air temperature is, of course, key for water to freeze. But Fitzgerald's lakes all lie within a seven-mile radius¹¹ and still freeze on different dates because some are deeper or more exposed to wind or light.

FITZGERALD: There's one pond where there's a distinct flow of water through. So that stays open longer. So I do make a judgment¹² call on that. But what I try to do is be consistent every year.

JACOBS: Consistent so it's useful to scientists, like Sapna Sharma, an ecologist at York University in Toronto.

SAPNA SHARMA: Ice acts like a lid for a lake. You can think of it acts like a lid on a lake in the winter.

JACOBS: Sharma has come on to co-run the lake ice project. She explains the number of days ice covers the surface, days that lid is on, has year-round impacts on water quality and temperature.

SHARMA: What's happening to your dissolved oxygen levels in the lake? Oxygen is incredibly important for all those creatures living in the lake.

JACOBS: Her recent research has shown ice season is getting shorter across the northern hemisphere. And that trend is speeding up. She says tens of thousands of lakes could stop freezing consistently even under optimistic warming scenarios¹³. She says analysis of the volunteers' data could help forecast how fast individual lakes and local ecosystems will change.

NANCY QUILLIAN: OK. So the white house is where I lived when I was born.

JACOBS: Nancy Quillian (ph) has lived her whole life with a view of Glen Lake in Queensbury, N.Y. She's sent in data for decades without thinking too much about it but noticed some change herself.

QUILLIAN: My memory as a kid is we were always skating by Christmas. And now it's a little iffy.

JACOBS: At 73, she also notes another challenge facing the new heads of the research effort, bringing on a new generation of data gatherers.

QUILLIAN: Probably should pass it on to somebody much younger (laughter).

JACOBS: Someday, there may no longer be dates to record for Glen Lake if it's among those that stop freezing altogether. Then the data would become a historical record of a past era in North American winters.

For NPR News, I'm Emma Jacobs.

[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Gerald Bove, identified in this story as a "former student," is now a research scientist at the University of the Virgin¹⁴ Islands and co-runs the lake ice research project with Sapna Sharma.]

(SOUNDBITE OF SEB WILDBLOOD'S "SKETCHES")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

9 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

10 trudged   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He trudged the last two miles to the town. 他步履艰难地走完最后两英里到了城里。
• He trudged wearily along the path. 他沿着小路疲惫地走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

12 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

13 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。