美国国家公共电台 NPR--Scientists are using microphones to measure how fast glaciers are melting

Scientists are using microphones to measure how fast glaciers¹ are melting

Transcript²

Rising global temperatures are melting our planet's glaciers, but how fast?

Scientists traditionally have relied on photography or satellite imagery to determine the rate at which glaciers are vanishing, but those methods don't tell us what's going on beneath the surface. To determine that, scientists have begun listening to glaciers using underwater microphones called hydrophones.

So, what do melting glaciers sound like?

"You hear something that sounds a lot like firecrackers going off or bacon frying. It's a very impulsive³ popping noise, and each of those pops is generated by a bubble bursting out into the water," Grant Deane, a research oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who told Morning Edition.

Deane says he was inspired by a 2008 paper co-authored by renowned⁴ oceanographer Wolfgang Berger, and hopes that listening and understanding these glacial noises will help him and his colleagues predict sea level rise.

"If we can count the bubbles being released into the water from the noises that they make, and if we know how many bubbles are in the ice, we can figure out how quickly the ice is melting. We need to know how quickly the ice is melting because that tells us how quickly the glaciers are going to retreat. We need to understand these things if we're going to predict sea level rise accurately," Deane says.

And predicting sea level rise is crucial, as hundreds of millions of people are at risk around the world — including the 87 million Americans who live near the coastline. Deane says that even a modest rise in sea levels could have devastating⁵ impacts on those communities.

1 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

2 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。

3 impulsive   

adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的

参考例句：

• She is impulsive in her actions.她的行为常出于冲动。
• He was neither an impulsive nor an emotional man,but a very honest and sincere one.他不是个一冲动就鲁莽行事的人，也不多愁善感.他为人十分正直、诚恳。

4 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。