格陵兰岛冰川融化加速，美国亿万富翁却组团去“挖矿”了……
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近年来，全球气候变暖，地处北极圈的格陵兰岛冰川正在加速融化。
格陵兰岛不仅吸引着大批想看看冷峻冰川、感受极寒环境的游客，而且还受到不少科学家和生意人的追捧，他们对冰川之下的科学和矿产资源更感兴趣。
香港明报（Min.News）在《The Arctic glaciers are melting, but American billionaires have organized a group to "mining"...》一文中揭露了目前格陵兰岛冰川融化的现状：
Greenland's glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate due to persistently high temperatures.
由于持续高温，格陵兰岛的冰川正在加速融化。
According to data released by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, in just a few days from July 15 to 17, 2022, Greenland's ice melted as high as 6 billion tons per day, which could fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
美国国家冰雪数据中心数据显示，仅7月15日至17日期间，格陵兰岛融冰量约为每天60亿吨，这足以填满720万个奥运会标准游泳池。
Put another way, the water is enough to cover 30.48cm of West Virginia.
换个算法，这些水足以覆盖美国西弗吉尼亚州30.48厘米。
The land that has been frozen for thousands of years is being exposed little by little, along with the dusty underground mines.
被冰封了数千年的土地，连同尘土飞扬的地下矿井，正在一点一点地暴露出来。
美国国家有线电视新闻网CNN早在此前的一篇新闻中就对“冰川融化，亿万富翁却组团挖矿”事件进行了深度的报道——《Billionaires are funding a massive treasure hunt in Greenland as ice vanishes》：
Some of the world's richest men are funding a massive treasure hunt, complete with helicopters and transmitters, on the west coast of Greenland.
世界首富们正在资助一场大规模的寻宝行动，并在格陵兰岛（Greenland）的西海岸配备了直升机和发射机。
The climate crisis is melting Greenland down at an unprecedented rate, which -- in a twist of irony -- is creating an opportunity for investors and mining companies who are searching for a trove of critical minerals capable of powering the green energy transition.
全球气候变暖正在以前所未有的速度融化格陵兰岛，然而讽刺的是，这对于那些正在寻找能够推动绿色能源转型的稀缺矿产投资者和矿业公司来说，是一次绝佳的机会。
杰夫·贝佐斯（Jeff Bezos）、迈克尔·布隆伯格（Michael Bloomberg）和比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）等一群亿万富翁都在打赌，格陵兰岛迪斯科岛和努斯瓦克半岛的山丘和山谷地表之下，藏有足量的稀缺矿产资源，可为亿辆电动汽车提供动力。
"We are looking for a deposit that will be the first- or second-largest most significant nickel and cobalt deposit in the world," Kurt House, CEO of Kobold Metals, told CNN.
Kobold Metals首席执行官柯特豪斯（Kurt House）向CNN说道，“我们正在寻找一个即将成为世界第一大或第二大的镍和钴矿床。”
The Arctic's disappearing ice -- on land and in the ocean -- highlights a unique dichotomy: Greenland is ground zero for the impacts of climate change, but it could also become ground zero for sourcing the metals needed to power the solution to the crisis.
北极消融的冰川有可能变成海洋的一部分，也有可能变为陆地：格陵兰岛因气候变化的影响，冰川可能会慢慢消融，但它也可能成为采购解决危机所需金属的原点。
目前，Kobold与Bluejay Mining两家公司已携手合作，正在格陵兰寻找稀有金属和贵金属，这些金属是制造电动汽车和储存可再生能源的大型电池所必需的原材料。
Thirty geologists, geophysicists, cooks, pilots and mechanics are camped at the site where Kobold and Blujay are searching for the buried treasure. CNN is the first media outlet with video of the activity happening there.
30名地质学家、地质物理学家、厨师、飞行员和机械师均驻扎在Kobold和Blujay的寻宝地。 而且CNN是第一家提供这次寻宝行动相关视频的媒体机构。
Crews are taking soil samples, flying drones and helicopters with transmitters to measure the electromagnetic field of the subsurface and map the layers of rock below. They're using artificial intelligence to analyze the data to pinpoint exactly where to drill as early as next summer.
工作人员正在采集土壤样本，使用带有发射器的无人机和直升机来测量地下的电磁场并绘制下面的岩层图。他们正在使用人工智能分析数据，以便最早在明年夏天准确定位钻探位置。
"It is a concern to witness the consequences and impacts from the climate changes in Greenland," Bluejay Mining CEO Bo Møller Stensgaard told CNN. "But, generally speaking, climate changes overall have made exploration and mining in Greenland easier and more accessible."
“目睹格陵兰气候变化的后果和影响确实令人担忧，”Bluejay Mining首席执行官Bo Møller Stensgaard向CNN透露，“但总体来说，气候变化较大程度地降低了格陵兰的勘探和采矿的难度。”
Stensgaard said that because climate change is making ice-free periods in the sea longer, teams are able to ship in heavy equipment and ship out metals out to the global market more easily.
他接着说，由于气候变化使海洋中的无冰期延长，团队能够更轻松地运送重型设备，并将金属运送到全球市场。
Melting land ice is exposing land that has been buried under ice for centuries to millennia -- but could now become a potential site for mineral exploration.
陆地冰层融化，被冰层掩埋了几个世纪甚至几千年的地表得以浮出表面。而且现在这里很有可能将成为矿产勘探的潜在地点。
"As these trends continue well into the future, there is no question more land will become accessible and some of this land may carry the potential for mineral development," Mike Sfraga, the chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission, told CNN.
美国北极研究委员会主席迈克·斯弗拉加（Mike Sfraga）对CNN坦言，“以目前的趋势来看，在未来的很长一段时间里，毫无疑问将会有更多的土地被开发，其中一些土地可能具有矿产开发的潜力。”
根据丹麦和格陵兰岛地质调查局的数据，格陵兰岛可能是煤炭、铜、金、稀土元素和锌的聚集地。
据该机构称，格陵兰岛政府曾进行过数次的“整片土地资源评估”，政府“意识到该国通过矿产开采很可能会实现国民经济多元化”。
Sfraga said that pro-mining stance is not without regard for the environment, which is central to Greenland's culture and livelihood.
斯弗拉加说，支持采矿的立场并非不考虑环境，采矿自古以来便是格陵兰岛的文化和国民生计的核心来源。
"The government of Greenland supports the responsible, sustainable, and economically viable development of their natural resources to include mining of a broad range of minerals," Sfraga said.
“格陵兰岛政府支持负责任、可持续和经济上可行的自然资源开发，包括开采各种矿产，”斯弗拉加说。
Stensgaard noted that these critical minerals will "provide part of the solution to meet these challenges" that the climate crisis presents.
斯弗拉加指出，这些稀缺矿物将“为气候危机提供部分解决方案”。
In the meantime, Greenland's vanishing ice -- which is pushing sea level higher -- is a great concern for scientists who study the Arctic.
与此同时，格陵兰岛消失的冰层使得海平面升高，而这才是研究北极的科学家们最关心的问题。
"The big concern for Arctic sea ice is that it's been disappearing over the last several decades its predicted to potentially disappear in 20 to 30 years," Nathan Kurtz, a NASA scientist who studies sea ice, told CNN. "In the fall, what used to be Artic ice cover year-round is now just going to be seasonal ice cover."
研究海冰的美国宇航局科学家内森·库尔茨 (Nathan Kurtz) 向CNN提到，“北极海冰最大的隐患是，过去几十年来海冰一直在融化，预计可能会在20到30年内完全消融。过去北极全年都是冰雪覆盖，现在变成每到秋季才有季节性冰雪覆盖。”
气候变化让格陵兰岛的冰层消失，让被掩埋几个世纪到几千年的丰富资源“现出原形”，但有些专家担心，格陵兰岛的自然环境可能因此受到威胁。
能源开发需要建立在保护的前提下，“适度开发”非常重要，否则，更大的气候和能源危机将会提前到来。
素材来源：CNN、Min.news