Kristin Poinar: What's hidden under the Greenland ice sheet?
克莉絲汀波伊娜: 格林蘭大冰原底下藏著什麼?
Kristin Poinar uses remote sensing and numerical models to study the interaction of meltwater with ice flow, especially on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
so I took a lot of breaks there.
所以我常在那裡休息。
格林蘭島的文章。
重新改裝的空軍運輸機
看出去的畫面。
hidden inside the ice sheet,
that the Greenland ice sheet is huge,
學到格林蘭很大,
is two miles thick.
downhill towards the ocean.
會流下山,流入海洋。
remote physical environments
是地球上現存最偏遠的
is like getting in on the ground floor
and satellites over the ice sheets
飛過大冰原上方的能力,
has done for social media.
對社交媒體產生的作用。
a wealth of observations
about the ice sheets continuously.
關於大冰原的隱藏事實。
of the size of the Greenland ice sheet
大小的觀察資料,
of the screen here
of the ice sheet melt
by an overall rate of mass loss
與總量損失的速度一比就相形失色,
a glaciologist 50 years ago.
對此一定會很驚訝。
lose mass into the ocean this quickly.
而流入海洋的速度會這麼快。
on our smallest continent,
堆積在我們最小的大陸上,
valleys, mountains and depressions
山丘、山谷、山岳、窪地,
the size of the Grand Canyon
是大峽谷這麼大的水道,
off of Greenland and into the ocean.
can reveal the bedrock
transparent to radar.
冰是完全透明的。
an ice cube in the microwave.
without interacting.
you have to get it wet,
你得把它弄濕,
in the microwave.
水很容易就會加溫。
the microwave oven is designed around.
a vast pool of liquid water
back to the ice sheet's surface.
this glacier aquifer existed.
有這個冰河含水層存在。
from the cold and the wind above.
嚴寒和寒風隔離開。
hidden in the ice sheet
以液態的形式隱藏在
to reach the global ocean?
進入到全球海洋中?
for the water to reach the bedrock
forces them deeper and deeper.
from deep within the earth.
in the Greenland ice sheet
most of the Greenland ice sheet
flies towards the coast,
on its quest to flow downhill,
do they take that water?
beyond remote sensing data.
that run on supercomputers.
is simply a set of equations
as the next number in a sequence --
序列的下一個數字──
set of equations
the equations for how ice cracks?
描述冰如何破裂的方程式。
a very good understanding
fracture under stress.
塑膠會如何斷裂。
that the engineering equations
from my physics homework.
for how a crevasse can fracture
可以說明當冰隙充滿了
real processes in our world.
我們世界上的實際情況。
the results of my numeric model,
產出了什麼結果,
a thousand times narrower than it is deep,
panel on the right
for how tall and skinny the crevasse is.
真實比例,又高又瘦。
flows into the crevasse,
in the negative 15 degree Celsius ice.
有部份的水會結冰。
as your kitchen freezer.
冰箱溫度一樣低。
the glacier aquifer is high enough.
流速夠高就可以。
all the way to the base of the ice sheet
一路通到一千公尺以下的
to reach the ocean.
可以直達海洋。
per year of sea level rise
might be punching above its weight.
還會做超乎預期的事。
at the base of the ice sheet here.
基部通常就會有水。
present at the base there.
is getting to the base of the ice sheet,
會到達大冰原的基部了,
flow faster into the ocean?
流向海洋的速度更快?
hidden inside the Greenland ice sheet
格林蘭大冰原內的謎題,
for the sea level rise it holds.
因應它造成的海平面上升。
that Greenland has lost since 2002
格林蘭所喪失的冰量,
of what that ice sheet holds.
是非常微小的。
that operate on long timescales.
在很長的時間尺度上運作。
will rise at least 20 centimeters,
會再上升至少 20 公分,
of future sea level rise is good,
上升的情況算是很了解,
and scientists
plan for the sea level rise that's coming.
海平面上升做出因應計畫。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kristin Poinar - GlaciologistKristin Poinar uses remote sensing and numerical models to study the interaction of meltwater with ice flow, especially on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Why you should listen
Hidden under many meters of ice, a pool of meltwater lies under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Kristin Poinar studies how the meltwater forms and flows in this dynamic glacial system. She asks: How did this water get there, and where does it go? How much water is in there? And how is climate change affecting this system?
Using data from Operation IceBridge flights and from field instruments, she's building a numerical model of how crevasses form and channel water. In fact, a NASA report released in February 2017 revealed a new pathway her team discovered for meltwater to reach the ocean. Using physically based models to constrain the bounds of what is realistic has shaped Poinar's interest in glaciology.
Poinar is currently a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She will be moving to the University at Buffalo in winter 2017 to be a professor in the Geology Department and the RENEW Institute.
Kristin Poinar | Speaker | TED.com