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(Those who doubt the power of human beings to change Earth's climate should look to
the Arctic, and tremble. There is no need to examine records of temperatureS and the
ゆう(
amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO.). .. The
the reduction
process
is cleárly visible,
大気の
of ice covering the Arctic Ocean. On current trends, the Arctic Ocean will be largely ice-free
5
in summer by 2040. Furthermore, the Arctic is not merely an indicator of climate change, but
an active part of it.
bs oH,
The current period of global warming/is caused by certain gases in the atmosphere,
fre
2
such as carbon dioxide. More carbon dioxide)equals more warming. Except it is not that
1-:し
simple. A number of feedback loops*/make things more complicated. Some slow down the
warming process;others-speed it upl|Two in the Arctic)may speed it up quite a lot.
3
One concerns the fact that seawater is much darker than ice. It absorbs heat rather
than reflectingit back into space. That melts more ice, which leaves more seawater exposed,
which melts more ice. And so on. This helps explain why the Arctic is warming faster than
the rest of the planet.
