Temperatures around the North Pole surged close to melting point on Thursday as a freak blast of warm air blanketed an Arctic region usually deep frozen in mid-winter darkness, scientists said.
Air temperatures at the North Pole were an estimated minus 4 degrees Celsius around midday with light snow, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, against a more usual temperature close to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
There are no weather stations at the Pole itself but a buoy floating in the Arctic Ocean north of the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen was reporting zero degrees on Thursday.
Photo: AP
照片：路透社
Worldwide, this year is set to be the warmest on record, driven up by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and a powerful El Nino weather event in the Pacific Ocean.
Arctic sea ice is at a record low for the time of year, according to December 20 measurements by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The Arctic region is warming at twice the global average, disrupting the hunting livelihoods of indigenous people and threatening creatures such as polar bears.
(Reuters)
科學家指出，北極週四出現一股反常的暖風，導致一處往年此時向來處於永夜冰封狀態的地區氣溫大幅上升，一度接近冰融點。
根據挪威氣象局，北極週四中午左右的氣溫估計為攝氏負四度，伴隨小雪，但該地區的正常值應為攝氏負三十度左右。
北極地區並無氣象站，但在挪威的斯匹次卑爾根島以北的北極海上設有浮球溫度計，該裝置於週四監測到的溫度為攝氏零度。
由於溫室氣體排放以及太平洋的聖嬰現象，今年將成為全球歷史上最熱的一年。
根據美國國家冰雪資料中心於十二月二十日監測到的數據，北極海面的冰層量也創下同一時期的歷史新低。
北極圈目前暖化的速度為全球平均暖化速度的兩倍，導致當地原住民難以打獵維持生計，並危害北極熊等生物的生態。
(台北時報編譯涂宇安，譯自路透社)
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