阿拉斯加暴风雨竟与海冰减少有关(下)

Certainly we know a big contributor to the increased impacts isn’t that there are more storms, but storms are coming when there’s no sea ice.

当然，我们知道造成影响增加的一个重要因素并非只是更多的风暴，而是风暴会在没有海冰时登陆。

As the coldest months of winter bear down on Alaska, there’s still currently no significant shore-fast sea ice along Alaska’s Bering Sea coast or farther north along the shoreline of the southern Chukchi Sea other than around the mouths of rivers.

随着冬季最冷的几个月向阿拉斯加逼近，目前在阿拉斯加的白令海沿岸和更北的楚科奇海南部的海岸线上，除了河口周围，仍然没有明显的靠岸海冰。

It’s a phenomenon that has become the norm in recent years.

近年来，这种现象已经成为一种常态。

In the 20th century, there would have been sea ice to offer protection or act as a buffer or a wave break.

在20世纪，海冰可以提供保护，可以充当缓冲区或防浪区。

And with that gone, the impacts have increased.

随着海冰的消失，造成的影响越来越大。

After Merbok developed as a powerful typhoon, it made its way north and east toward Alaska.

在“苗柏”发展为强台风后，向北部和东部移动，朝着阿拉斯加行进。

As it did so, it grew into something meteorologists really don’t even have a word for.

就这样，它发展成了一种气象学家甚至没有词语来形容的东西。

Some people called it the “remnants” of a typhoon. Thoman referred to it as an “ex-typhoon.”

一些人将其称之为台风的“残余”。托曼将其称之为“前台风”。

But that kind of language doesn’t do justice in describing its power or immensity.

但这样的词汇并无法描述出它的威力，也无法描绘出它的无边无际。

By the time it slammed into Alaska, it had tripled in size alone.

当它猛烈袭击阿拉斯加时，仅体积就增加了两倍。

Over the long term, there’s not any good, hard evidence of the intensity of these storms increasing.

从长期来看，没有任何有力的证据表明这些风暴的强度在增加。

But the background they’re working in—a warmer environment, a less frozen environment—is really, I think, the driver of the impacts.

但我认为，风暴形成需要更温暖的环境以及没有那么多冰冻的环境，这样的背景是造成影响的原因。

Residents in dozens of western Alaskan communities continue to repair damaged homes and outbuildings and to apply for disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state government and other organizations.

阿拉斯加西部几十个社区的居民仍在修复受损的房屋和附属建筑，并通过联邦紧急事务管理局、州政府和其他组织申请救灾援助。

What Merbok laid bare is their vulnerability and the extreme need for improved and strengthened infrastructure as such storms become the new normal in the region.

随着此类风暴成为该地区的新常态，“苗柏”的弱点会暴露无遗，且迫切需要改善和加强基础设施。

For 60-Second Science, I’m Emily Schwing.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾米丽·施文。