Half of Earth’s Glaciers Could Disappear by 2100全球半数冰川或将在2100年之前消失

Half the planets glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if humanity sticks to goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Research finds the scale and impacts of glacial loss are greater than previously thought.

Researchers found 49% of glaciers would disappear under the most optimistic scenario of 1.5°C of warming. However， if global heating continued under the scenario of more than 1.5°C of warming， losses would be more significant， according to a paper published in Science.

This will contribute to sea level rise， threaten the supply of water of up to 2 billion people， and increase the risk of natural hazards such as flooding. The study looked at all glacial land ice except for Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

即使人类坚持巴黎气候协议设定的目标，到2100年，地球上一半的冰川也将融化。研究发现，冰川消失的规模和影响比之前所认为的要大。

研究人员发现，即使是在气温上升1.5摄氏度这样最乐观的情况下，也将会有49%的冰川消失。然而，根据发表在《科学》杂志上的一篇论文所显示，如果全球在气温上升超过1.5摄氏度之后持续热化，冰川消失的情况将更加严重。

这将使海平面上升，给多达20亿人的供水构成威胁，并增加洪水等自然灾害发生的风险。这项研究调查了除格陵兰岛和南极冰盖外的所有陆地冰川。

Mountain glacier melt is believed to contribute to more than a third of sea level rise. A lot of this loss is unavoidable， but the magnitude of glacier loss is directly related to temperature increases， so acting on the climate crisis is key. Researchers wrote in the paper： “The rapidly increasing glacier mass losses as global temperature increases beyond 1.5°C stresses the urgency of establishing more ambitious climate pledges to preserve the glaciers in these mountainous regions.”

人們认为，超过三分之一的海平面上升是由高山冰川融化造成的。其中很多融化无法避免，但冰川消失的体量与气温上升有直接的关系。因此，采取行动应对气候危机才是关键。研究人员在论文中写到：“大量冰川因为全球气温上升超过1.5摄氏度而快速消失，这突出了制定更激进的气候公约来保护这些高山冰川的紧迫性。”

Word Bank

scale /ske?l/ n. 规模；范围

optimistic /'?pt?'m?st?k/ adj. 乐观的

threaten /'θretn/ v. 危及；对……构成威胁

crisis /'kra?s?s/ n. 危机

urgency /'??d??nsi/ n. 紧急性；迫切性