瑞典最高峰變矮了

瑞典最高的山峰在不祥的山脈重塑中失去了統(tǒng)治地位

It's not as if the world needed another symbol for the climate crisis, but now Sweden has one all to itself. After years of rising temperatures and back-to-back summer heatwaves, the southern peak of Kebnekaise, Sweden's former tallest mountain, has melted into subservience.

這并不是說世界需要另一個標志來應(yīng)對氣候危機，但現(xiàn)在瑞典有了一個完全屬于自己的標志。在經(jīng)歷了數(shù)年的氣溫上升和連續(xù)不斷的夏季熱浪之后，瑞典前最高山峰Kebnekaise的南峰已經(jīng)融化成了一座附屬山。

For decades, the glacier atop this iconic summit has been in retreat, and now measurements show it has been dethroned as the nation's tallest point. It's neighbour, the ice-free northern peak, now reigns victorious.

幾十年來，這個標志性的山頂上的冰川一直在退縮，現(xiàn)在的測量顯示，它已經(jīng)不再是瑞典最高點。它的鄰居，無冰北峰，現(xiàn)在取得了勝利。

"This is the lowest height ever measured," says Gunhild Ninis Rosqvist, a geographer who focuses on changing polar environments at Stockholm University.

斯德哥爾摩大學的地理學家岡希爾德尼尼尼斯羅斯克維斯特(GunhildNinisRosqvist)說：“這是有史以來測量的最低高度。”

"Over the past 50 years, the height of Kebnekaise's southern peak has decreased by 24 metres."

“在過去的50年里，Kebnekaise南峰的高度下降了24米。”

And recently, things have only been getting worse. In the past decade alone, the melt rate has been roughly one metre per year.

最近，情況越來越糟。僅在過去的10年里，冰川融化的速度大約為每年1米。

The southern peak's fall from grace has been coming for a while now. Just last year, the northern peak came neck-and-neck with the southern peak and researchers suspected that it might have even slipped past, although measurements were not accurate enough to say for sure.

南峰的衰落已經(jīng)有一段時間了。就在去年，北峰和南峰并駕齊擊，研究人員懷疑它甚至可能已經(jīng)滑過了，盡管測量數(shù)據(jù)不夠準確，不能確定。

This year, the measurements were more exact. At the end of this summer, researchers at Stockholm University announced that the southern peak was, in fact, 1.2 metres (4 feet) shorter than the northern peak. Currently, it stands at just 2,095.6 metres (around 6,875 feet).

今年，測量結(jié)果更加精確。今年夏末，斯德哥爾摩大學的研究人員宣布，南峰實際上比北峰矮1.2米(4英尺)。目前，它的高度只有2095.6米(約6875英尺)。

The height of this glacier fluctuates by about three metres between summer and winter, and September is when it's at its lowest. Over the winter, it's likely to gather more height by building up a nice pack of snow and ice, but the overall trajectory is unmistakable. The melting rate has only increased in recent years and it shows no signs of slowing down.

這座冰川的高度在夏季和冬季之間波動約3米，9月是它的最低點。在冬天，它可能會聚集更多的高度，形成一個漂亮的冰雪包裹，但整體軌跡是明確無誤的。融化速度只是近年來才有所增加，而且沒有放緩的跡象。