冰河时期的影响

Daniel Sigman: We use computer models to predict how the world will respond to carbon dioxide additions to the atmosphere from human activities. And one way of testing them is to apply them to past earth conditions.

丹尼尔·西格曼：人类活动会增加大气中二氧化碳的含量，我们利用计算机模型来预测地球会对此作出怎样的反应。这些模型到底预测的准不准？用它们测测过去的地球环境就知道。

You are listening to Princeton earth scientist Daniel Sigman, recipient of a 2009 MacArthur ‘genius’ grant. He’s been studying past ice ages, and says they can help us better understand our current climate warming. For example, during the last ice age, he said, what was happening in the oceans dramatically affected levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2.

丹尼尔·西格曼荣获2009年度麦克阿瑟“天才奖”。他致力研究冰河时期的地球环境，并指出该研究能够帮助我们更好地了解当前气候变暖的成因。比如说，上个冰河时期地球海洋发生的一系列变化对大气中二氧化碳的含量产生了及其重大的影响。

Daniel Sigman: To the degree that we want to have full information on where the Earth is going, we need to explore this further.

丹尼尔·西格曼：为能够透彻地了解地球的现状，我们需要更进一步地进行研究。

Sigman said ice age data can help strengthen today's climate models by providing a sort of test. He talked about how this has worked for weather models – the kind experts rely on to make our daily forecasts.

西格曼称，对冰河时期的研究得来的测试数据有力地证明了计算机气候模型预测的准确性。该测试数据对天气模型也有贡献，它是气象学家预报天气的参考。

Daniel Sigman: Every day the weather model makes a prediction, and every day weather occurs and provides a test of that prediction. This has allowed the models to be improved over time.

丹尼尔·西格曼：天气模型每天都会做出预测，而每天的天气实况则可以用来验证该预测是否准确，以此我们可以逐步改进模型。

Sigman added that there’s no doubt that climate warming is happening, but, how much and how quickly is uncertain. Sigman said that to improve our models of climate, we need data from long periods of time.

西格曼还指出，气候变暖既成事实，但变暖的程度和速度还待确定。他说，我们需要更多的时间获取更多的数据以完善这一模型。