英語聽力文摘 海洋熱量

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海洋熱量

Ya?l: I hear a lot about global warming, but how do scientists take the Earth’s temperature?

Don: Great question. Most of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide ends up in the oceans.That’s because the earth’s oceans are kind of like a giant sponge that can hold a lot of heat for a long time.

Y: The oceans are also huge–in fact, they cover most of the planet, and some parts of the oceans are warmer and some are colder. So it’s not like you can just stick a thermometer in somewhere and say, “OK, that’s the ocean’s temperature.”

D: Of course not. Scientists take thousands of temperature readings from different parts of the oceans. They use a combination of heat sensitive satellites and thousands of floats that directly measure the temperature of ocean water at various depths. Together, these instruments allow scientists to calculate an average ocean temperature.

Y: It’s an ongoing process, and scientists are always trying to get more accurate measurements. But they’ve found that the oceans have in fact been warming at a rate that corresponds with how much heat scientists think has been trapped by greenhouse gasses.

D: This may not sound too bad; as long as the oceans are absorbing most of the extra heat, why worry? But higher ocean temperatures cause icebergs and ice shelves to melt, which raises sea level. And warmer oceans could affect weather patterns in ways that scientists don’t fully understand.

Y:So, warming of the oceans affects us all.

Ya?l: 我聽到很多關(guān)于與全球變暖的事情，但科學家們是怎么測量地球溫度呢?

Don: 問得好。溫室里的大多余熱象二氧化碳之類氣體的都被海洋吸收了。這是因為地球就象一塊巨大的海綿，可以長時間容納大量的熱量。

Y: 實際上海洋是很大的，它占據(jù)了地球大部分的面積。海洋有的地方比較暖和，而有的地方比較寒冷。所以并不是那樣，你拿個溫度計隨便測量某個地方的溫度，然后說，“好了，這就是海洋的溫度”。

D: 當然不是那樣?？茖W家們會在海洋的不同區(qū)域測量無數(shù)次溫度。他們把熱敏感衛(wèi)星和許多直接測量不同深度的海水溫度的漂浮物結(jié)合起來。這些工具讓科學家們計算出一個平均海溫。

Y: 這是一個持續(xù)的過程，科學家們一直試圖做更精確的測量。但他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，海洋變暖的速度其實與科學家們認為被溫室所困住的氣體的多少成比例的。

D: 這聽起來也許不是太糟糕，只要是海洋吸收掉大部分多余的熱量，為什么要擔心呢?但較高的海洋溫度會造成冰山和冰架融化，這引起了海平面上升。變暖的海洋可能會以一種科學家不理解的方式影響天氣。

Y: 因此，海洋變暖影響著我們每一個人。