南極的變暖速度是地球其他地方的3倍
The South Pole has warmed three times faster than the rest of the planet in the last 30 years due to warmer tropical ocean temperatures, new research showed Monday.
週一，有新研究表明，由於熱帶海洋溫度升高，南極在過去30年內的變暖速度是地球其他地方的3倍。
Antarctica's temperature varies widely according to season and region, and for years it had been thought that the South Pole had stayed cool even as the continent heated up.
南極氣溫的季節差異和地區差異很大，多年來一直以爲即使全球氣溫升高，南極也會保持低溫。
Researchers in New Zealand, Britain and the United States analysed 60 years of weather station data and used computer modelling to show what was causing the accelerated warming.
新西蘭、英國和美國的研究人員分析了氣象站60年的數據，並利用計算機模擬來展示加速變暖的原因。
They found that warmer ocean temperatures in the western Pacific had over the decades lowered atmospheric pressure over the Weddell Sea in the southern Atlantic.
他們發現，數十年來西太平洋海水溫度升高使南大西洋威德爾海上空的大氣壓力降低。
This in turn had increased the flow of warm air directly over the South Pole - warming it by more than 1.83C (about 3.3F) since 1989.
這一現象增加了南極上空的暖空氣流量，使南極氣溫從1989年開始上升了超過1.83攝氏度（約3.3華氏度）。
Authors of the research said the natural warming trend was likely boosted by manmade greenhouse gas emissions and could be masking the heating effect of carbon pollution over the South Pole.
此次研究的作者說人爲排放的溫室氣體有可能加速了自然變暖趨勢，從而掩蓋了南極上空碳污染的加熱效應。
"While temperatures were known to be warming across West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula during the 20th century, the South Pole was cooling," said Kyle Clem, a researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, and lead study author.
惠靈頓維多利亞大學的研究人員及主要研究作者Kyle Clem說：“雖然都知道在20世紀南極洲西部和南極半島的氣溫在升高，但南極一直很涼爽。”
"It was suspected that this part of Antarctica... might be immune to/isolated from warming. We found this is not the case any more," he told AFP.
他對《法新社》說：“我們懷疑南極的這一部分可能不受氣候變暖影響。但我們發現情況有變。”
The data showed that the South Pole - the most remote spot on Earth - was now warming at a rate of around 0.6C (1.1F) a decade, compared with around 0.2C (0.4F) for the rest of the planet.
數據顯示地球上最偏遠的南極，正在以十年升溫約0.6攝氏度（1.1華氏度）的速度變暖，而地球上其他地區溫度升高約0.2攝氏度（0.4華氏度）。
