Highest-ever temperature recorded in Norwegian Arctic archipelago
据挪威气象研究所通报，位于北极圈内的挪威斯瓦巴德群岛周六（7月25日）气温达到21.7摄氏度，创下历史新高。
该研究所气象学家说，斯瓦巴德群岛（Svalbard）周六连续两天下午都录得21.2摄氏度的高温；到周六傍晚6时左右，气温更上升至21.7摄氏度。
这是斯瓦巴德群岛首府朗伊尔城（Longyearbyen）历来录得的最高气温，比1979年创下的纪录还高出0.4摄氏度。
7月是北极圈最热的月份，但往年这个时候，斯瓦巴德群岛的气温一般仅介于5至8摄氏度。
研究显示，北极圈暖化速度为地球其他地区的两倍。
挪威气候研究中心去年2月发布的报告显示，1971年至2017年期间，斯瓦巴德群岛平均气温上升了3至5摄氏度；若全球温室气体排放量持续增加，该地区平均气温可能在2070年至2100年上升7至10摄氏度。
该中心指出，气温升高可能导致支撑建筑物、道路和机场的冻土解冻，并引发更多雪崩和滑坡现象。
气候暖化也会对北极熊和海豹等北极野生生物构成威胁。
Norway’s Arctic archipelago Svalbard on Saturday (July 25) recorded its highest-ever temperature, the country’s meteorological institute reported.
According to scientific study, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as for the rest of the planet.
For the second day in a row, the archipelago registered 21.2 deg C in the afternoon, just under the 21.3 degrees recorded in 1979, meteorologist Kristen Gislefoss told AFP.
Later in the afternoon, however, at around 6pm local time, it recorded 21.7 degrees, setting a new all-time record.
The island group, dominated by Spitzbergen the only inhabited isle in the northern Norway archipelago, sits 1,000km from the North Pole.
The relative heatwave, expected to last until Monday, is a huge spike of normal temperatures in July, the hottest month in the Arctic.
The Svalbard islands would normally expect to be seeing temperatures of 5-8 degrees Celsius at this time of year.
The region has seen temperatures five degrees above normal since January, peaking at 38 degrees in Siberia in mid-July, just beyond the Arctic Circle.
According to a recent report “The Svalbard climate in 2100,” the average temperatures for the archipelago between 2070 and 2100 will rise by seven to 10 degrees, due to the levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
Changes are already visible. From 1971 to 2017 between three and five degrees of warming have been observed, with the biggest rises in the winter, according to the report.
Svalbard, known for its polar bear population, houses both a coal mine, digging out the most global warming of all energy sources, and a “doomsday” seed vault which has since 2008 collected stocks of the world’s agricultural bounty in case of global catastrophe.
The vault required €20 million worth of work after the infiltration of water due to thawing permafrost in 2016.
Source: Zaobao / Straits Times
