第2551期:Greenland Holds Important Position in a Warming World

Greenland is the world’s largest island and a self-governed territory of Denmark. About 57,000 people live there, mainly along its coasts. Most of Greenland lies north of the Arctic Circle, under thick sheets of ice.

格陵兰岛是世界上最大的岛屿，也是丹麦的自治领土。大约有 57,000 人居住在那里，主要居住在沿海地区。格陵兰岛的大部分地区位于北极圈以北，覆盖着厚厚的冰层。

The island plays a large part in the weather experienced by billions of people every day and in climate changes around the planet, experts say.

专家表示，该岛在数十亿人每天经历的天气以及全球气候变化中发挥着重要作用。

American President-elect Donald Trump is expressing interest in buying Greenland from Denmark. He said something similar during his first term in office as well. The United States has a large military base on the island.

美国当选总统唐纳德·特朗普表示有兴趣从丹麦购买格陵兰岛。他在第一个任期内也说过类似的话。美国在岛上拥有大型军事基地。

Geologists say Greenland has huge amounts of oil and natural gas below the ice and valuable elements known as rare earth minerals. Rare earth minerals are needed in communication technologies, including phones.

地质学家表示，格陵兰岛冰层下蕴藏着大量石油和天然气，以及被称为稀土矿物的宝贵元素。通信技术（包括电话）需要稀土矿物。

Most of these resources are trapped under Greenland’s ice. However, warming temperatures in recent years have increased melting on the island. As more ice melts, some of these resources may become easier to reach.

这些资源大部分都被困在格陵兰岛的冰层下。然而，近年来气温升高加剧了岛上的融化。随着更多的冰融化，其中一些资源可能会变得更容易获取。

Geoff Dabelko is a security and environment professor at Ohio University. He thinks other countries are becoming interested in Greenland because China is currently the supplier of more than half of the world’s rare Earth minerals.

杰夫·达贝尔科 (Geoff Dabelko) 是俄亥俄大学安全与环境教授。他认为其他国家对格陵兰岛越来越感兴趣，因为中国目前是世界一半以上稀土矿物的供应国。

From 1992 to 2020, Greenland lost an average of 169 billion metric tons of ice each year, with losses reaching 444 billion metric tons in 2019.

从1992年到2020年，格陵兰岛平均每年损失1690亿吨冰，2019年损失达到4440亿吨。

Mark Serreze is director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. He told The Associated Press that melting from Greenland will be a central issue through the 21st century. That is because melting ice adds to rising sea levels. Serreze noted that the amount of melting will likely increase in the future.

马克·塞雷兹 (Mark Serreze) 是科罗拉多州博尔德国家冰雪数据中心的主任。他告诉美联社，格陵兰岛融化将成为整个 21 世纪的一个中心问题。这是因为冰融化会导致海平面上升。Serreze 指出，未来融化量可能会增加。

Greenland also serves as the engine for an important ocean current that influences Earth's climate in many ways, including storm activity. The current is called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. The current is slowing down because more fresh water from Greenland’s melting ice is entering the ocean, Serreze said.

格陵兰岛也是重要洋流的引擎，洋流以多种方式影响地球气候，包括风暴活动。该洋流被称为大西洋经向翻转环流（AMOC）。塞雷兹说，由于格陵兰岛融化的冰越来越多的淡水进入海洋，洋流正在减慢。

A shutdown of the current could lead to long-term freezes in Europe and parts of North America.

电流的关闭可能会导致欧洲和北美部分地区长期冻结。

“If this global current system were to slow substantially or even collapse . . .as we know it has done in the past — normal temperature and precipitation patterns around the globe would change drastically,” said climate scientist Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, a non-profit based in the American state of Massachusetts.

“如果当前的全球体系大幅放缓甚至崩溃。。“正如我们所知，过去的情况是——全球的正常气温和降水模式将发生巨大变化，”美国马萨诸塞州非营利组织伍德韦尔气候研究中心的气候科学家詹妮弗·弗朗西斯说。

She added that the changes would have very damaging effects on farming and ecosystems.

她补充说，这些变化将对农业和生态系统产生非常破坏性的影响。

As more ice melts, Greenland is also changing color from the white of ice to the blue and green of water and land. These darker colors hold more heat from the sun and can increase the speed of warming.

随着更多的冰融化，格陵兰岛的颜色也从冰的白色变为水和陆地的蓝色和绿色。这些较深的颜色会吸收更多来自太阳的热量，并会加快变暖的速度。

Greenland lies in between northern Canada, northern Europe, and Russia. That area may become more valuable to countries if melting in the Arctic Ocean continues to increase and more ships pass through the area.

格陵兰岛位于加拿大北部、北欧和俄罗斯之间。如果北冰洋的融化继续增加并且更多的船只经过该地区，该地区可能对各国变得更有价值。