ice sheets

Simply, if glaciologists do not know what goes on at the bottom of the ice sheets, no one can predict how ice sheets will change with time.

简而言之，如果冰河学家不知道冰原底下发生什麽事，就没有人可以预测冰原将如何改变。

Large ice sheets did not exist across the north and south polar regions as they do today.

南北两极并不像现在一样覆盖着巨大的冰层。

If either of these ice sheets were to melt significantly, sea levels could rise by an order of meters (many feet), drowning coastal cities.

如果这两大区域的冰川大量融化，海平面会大幅上升（许多英尺）并淹没沿岸城市。

The state of the ice sheets during the Pliocene is not well known, but it is thought that sea level ranged up to 80 feet higher than today.

那时冰川的情况并不清楚，但据说那时的海平面要比现在高80英尺。

In Arctic waters, ice sheets bog and break against one another. It's the setting for an unusual heavyweight competition - tusk wrestling.

在北极水面上，冰层相互挤压破裂。这是不寻常的重量级比赛的场景–长牙动物摔跤。

If it is that the ice sheets [are] responding to the ocean [temperature], that change is going to persist for decades to come.

如果那就是冰盖[是]应对海洋[温度]，这种变化将持续数十年的到来。

Perhaps the greatest geological hazards during climate change will be the result of melting ice sheets.

气候变化引发的最严重地质灾害，可能会是冰原融化。

"The take-home message of this work is that [the bottom of ice sheets] can no longer be ignored" in the models, he says.

他说：“这项研究工作所提供的最重要的信息是，在今后的模拟中冰盖底部的情况再也不容忽视了。”

It's all too common these days to see pictures of polar bears trapped on rapidly diminishing ice sheets.

现在我们经常看见北极熊被困在迅速消失的薄冰上。

Yet another tipping point could come as ice sheets shrink and the polar caps start absorbing rather than reflecting energy from the sun.

然而另一个引爆点的出现，则可能是冰原的缩减，极冠转反射太阳的能量为吸收。

IT is a scene increasingly shown in Hollywood films, the ice sheets in the poles are melting and the world is in danger of flooding.

好莱坞电影中经常会出现这样一幕，极地的冰原融化了，地球面临着被洪水淹没的危险。

At the height of the most recent Ice Age, about 35, 000 years ago, much of the world's water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets.

在冰河时代晚期的鼎盛时期，大约3万5千年前，世界上很多的水在广袤的大陆冰原被冻结。

Thinning penetrated deep into the interior of the ice sheets and continues to spread as ice shelves melt into the sea.

变薄的现象已经远远渗透到冰原的腹地，而且随着冰架向海中延伸，冰川变薄的范围也在扩大。

It's evident that the ice sheets have gone through multiple stages of growth and retreat over the course of the Quaternary.

很明显，在第四纪，冰层已经历过生长和消融的多个阶段。

Joe through the mountains, ice sheets and major cities in the world, the last before he arrived home!

乔要通过山区、大城市和冰原世界，最后才可到达他的家！

For the response of the ice sheets to a still warmer world, older periods in geologic time offer parallels.

对于冰川对变暖世界的回应，以前的地质时期也出现过相似的状况。

Still undetermined, Hu says, is exactly where and how the warming waters interact with the ice sheets.

胡爱学说：温暖的水域到底在哪里与冰盖交汇，又是如何交汇的，这些情况尚不确定。

A mirror to a cloudy sky, Lake Crescent was created by the gouging of retreating Canadian ice sheets.

月牙湖因加拿大大冰原的化冰开槽而产生，像是一面映射着多云天空的镜子。

Scientists think the Mars glaciers may have been left as remnants when regional ice sheets retreated.

科学家们认为火星冰河是区域性冰原撤退后留下的残余。

Rising temperatures are melting glaciers and ice sheets, as well as warming the oceans directly, which causes them to expand.

环境温度的上升正在逐步融化冰川和两极的冰架，同时它又直接地加热了海洋，使海洋膨胀，海平面升高。