介绍:
Alaska Living with Climate Change
From CRIENGLISH.com
Research Engineer[研究工程师] Bruno Grunau at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Alaska[阿拉斯加州] says people there are witnessing the effect of climate change.
"I would like to see in Paris[巴黎] or what not[诸如此类], the discussion to be surrounded on the impact that climate change has already had[气候变化所产生的影响]. In Alaska, we have thousands and thousands of miles where we show the effects of climate change and how's it's impacted on people and communities. We're seeing it first-hand[第一手的；直接的] here in interior[内陆] Alaska."
About 80 percent of the American state is covered in permafrost[永久冻土，永久冻地；永久冻结带；永久冰冻], the layer of frozen ice[冻冰] under the ground.
But warmer weather has thawed[使融解，暖和] the permafrost[永冻层] and eroded soils[蚀土壤].
This has put homes, roads and pipes there on the brink of[濒于，濒临；在…的边缘] sinking[下沉].
Experts in Alaska have been helping the authorities find ways to build structures that will survive the increasing temperatures[逐渐升高的温度].
Doug Goering, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering[机械工程] at the University of Alaska, says the state transportation department[国家/州交通部] is keen to[渴望;热衷于] understand how to minimize the effects of thawing permafrost[降低永冻层融化的影响].
"There's only a few methods out there for really effectively keeping permafrost[永冻层] cool beneath[在…之下] roadways. And two methods that are used here, one involves what are called thermosiphons[温差环流系统；热虹吸管]. And in a fairly new configuration[配置；结构；外形] however, and the other involves a couple different kinds of applications of air convection[空气对流] embankments[筑堤(工程);填土,填方;路堤;堤围,堤岸,土堤]."
Thermosiphons are carbon dioxide[二氧化碳]-filled steel pipes[钢管] that are engineered[设计;指导;改造] to carry away[运走；使失去自制力] heat from below the road's surface, to help keep the ground frozen.
The system will operate only in the winter, when the ground is colder than the air.
Research Engineer[研究工程师] Bruno Grunau also explains they are experimenting on four homes built on permafrost[永冻层] at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus[阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯分校], each with a different foundation and cooling system.
"Two of the homes are on standard pilings[非金属桩], steel pilings[钢管桩] driven into permafrost[永冻层], and two of them, we have what is called thermal raft foundation. A thermal raft is basically 12 or 16 inches of foam[泡沫；水沫；灭火泡沫] where the house sits right on the foam.
And the idea of the foam is that minimizes the heat that goes into the ground."
In 2012, the United Nations Environment Program[联合国环境规划署] released a report warning of the implications of thawing permafrost[永冻层融化].
The study shows that a global temperature increase of three degrees Celsius means a six degrees Celsius increase in the Arctic[北极圈], which could result in between 30 to 85 percent loss of near-surface[近地表] permafrost[永冻层].
The U.S. government estimates[估计；预算] that some 1 hundred thousand Alaskans live in areas which could be affected by the melting[融化的；溶解的] permafrost[永冻层].
For CRI, this is Fei Fei.
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