VOA标准英语2010年-Ancient Ice Helps Predict Future Warmi

More than 300 scientists from 14 countries brought their skills to the Greenland base camp over five summers.

Jim White studies really old ice. He thinks it will help predict what the climate will be like in the future.

 White is director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine¹ Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder² and lead U.S. investigator³ on the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling project or NEEM.

NEEM is about trying to get a good record of the last interglacial period from Greenland 120,000 to 130,000 years ago when Greenland was two to three degrees Celsius⁴ warmer than it is today, he says. "And thus it represents our closest analogue⁵ in time to where we are going in the future."

NEEM Project
Project leader Dorthe Dahl Jensen holding the final piece of ice extracted from 2537.36 meters.

White is a member of an international team of scientists that, over five years, has drilled 2.5 kilometers to bedrock to extract a 2,500 meter-long ice core in three-to-four meter chunks⁶. And once they come up to the surface, he says, "We measure, we log and we match to make sure that we know that we're getting a continuous record."

Scientists calculate greenhouse gas content and air temperature from gases trapped in the ice. And from captured dust, rock and plant material they get a closer look at what Greenland was like before it was covered with snow.

Tim Burton
The very last ice core sample collected from the NEEM project shows bits of rock that were trapped in the ice over 100,000 years ago.

White says during the Eemian period sea level rose approximately five meters. He is uncertain how much of that ice came from Greenland because, he says, "The dynamics⁷ of the Greenland ice sheet are not the same as the dynamics of Antarctica, which is our other big source of land ice that can raise or lower sea level."

The fate of Greenland under a warm climate, White says won't be the same as west Antarctica and east Antarctica.

Answers to those questions, he says, can provide decision-makers with information they need to set policy for expected sea level rise given the temperature on the planet. "It makes a big difference whether it is one or five meters," he says.

NEEM ice cores were studied on site and also have been sent to laboratories across the world for analysis. White expects the data to be published early in 2011.

1 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

2 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

3 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

4 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

5 analogue   

n.类似物；同源语

参考例句：

• The gill of a fish is the analogue of the lung of a cat.鱼的鳃和猫的肺是类似物。
• But aside from that analogue standby,the phone, videoconferencing is their favorite means of communication.除了备用的相似物电话，可视对话是他们最喜欢的沟通手段。

6 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

7 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。