阅读理解
A 2020 study in the journal
Science concluded that marine heat
waves have increased more than 20-fold as a result of climate warming. The
authors found that in the first decade after satellites began recording ocean
temperatures (i.e., after 1981), there were 27 large marine heat waves, with an
average duration of 32 days and an average peak temperature anomaly of 8.5°F;
in the 2010s, there were 172, which lasted 48 days on average with an average
peak temperature almost 10°F above normal.
Much remains unclear about
marine heat waves. For example, explains Nicholas Bond, research scientist at
the University of Washington and Washington's state climatologist, there is the
question of why so many persist for weeks or months. "There must be
something else going on that helps maintain them," he says. He notes that
one explanation is that as the ocean surface warms, it radiates heat into the
atmosphere that prevents cloud cover from forming, exposing the seawater to
increased sunlight and further warming.
However, enough is known
about marine heat waves for scientists to be gravely concerned about their
potential impacts. Of special note is the fact that those impacts can last long
after the heat waves have disappeared. After three years of the Blob, the
waters of the northeastern Pacific began to cool in 2016; but years later,
scientists are still determining the extent to which the region's ecosystem is
likely to return fully to its pre-Blob status. Similarly, notes Scannell, who
is a data scientist with Jupiter Intelligence, Inc., following the 2010-11
Western Australia event, "lots of kelp (巨藻) forests died, and it
takes literally decades for those ecosystems to bounce back".
Eric Oliver, a scientist
from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, expressed his own opinion
about the potential impact of the heat waves in tropical waters. "I think
that's really a tough issue," he says. Life in the tropics, he notes, is
adapted to "quite a narrow range of temperatures. So that's where things
can get really messy. We can have complete shifts in tropical systems."
(1)
What can we infer from the figures listed in para. 1?
A . The problem of marine heat waves is becoming worse.
B . The satellites enable scientists to record ocean temperature precisely.
C . Climate change is the main cause of the marine heat waves.
D . Marine heat waves have been found by scientists for about 30 years.
(2)
What does the 2nd paragraph mainly talk about?
A . Various factors that lead to marine heat waves.
B . The possible impacts of a warm ocean surface.
C . The possible reason why marine heat waves last long.
D . Scientists' efforts in exploring the causes of heat waves.
(3)
What do we know about the impact of the marine heat waves?
A . The impact will disappear shortly after the sea water cools.
B . It takes long before the ecosystem makes a complete recovery.
C . Scientists have known enough to restore the impact.
D . The northeastern Pacific and Western Australia are the worst cases.
(4)
What is Eric Oliver's attitude towards the heat waves in tropic waters?
A . Concerned.
B . Indifferent.
C . Doubtful.
D . Optimistic.
答案: A
C
B
A