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Temperatures at the North Pole could be up to 20 degrees higher than average this Christmas Eve. Temperatures are forecast to peak on Christmas Eve around the North Pole - at near-freezing. Climate scientists say these unseasonably warm weather patterns in the Arctic region are directly linked to man-made climate change.

今年耶誕夜的北極氣溫，恐將高出平均溫度達20度。氣溫預報顯示，北極周邊耶誕夜的溫度將升達高峰—接近冰點。氣象科學家說，北極地區這些不合時令的溫暖天氣模式，直接與人為造成的氣候變遷有關。

Temperatures throughout November and December were 5C higher than average. It follows a summer during which Arctic sea ice reached the second-lowest extent ever recorded by satellites.

整個11月與12月的溫度，要比同期平均溫度高出攝氏5度。而在夏季期間，北極海冰的規模達到衛星紀錄以來的第二低程度。

Dr Friederike Otto, a senior researcher at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute said that in pre-industrial times "a heatwave like this would have been extremely rare - we would expect it to occur about every 1,000 years".

牛津大學環境變遷研究所資深研究員奧圖博士說，在工業化前時代「諸如此類的熱浪極為罕見—我們認為大概每1000年才發生一次。」

Dr Otto added that scientists are "very confident" that the weather patterns were linked to anthropogenic climate change.

奧圖博士補充說，科學家「非常確信」該氣溫模式與人為造成的氣候變遷有關。

"We have used several different climate modelling approaches," she said. "And in all our methods, we find the same thing; we cannot model a heatwave like this without the anthropogenic signal."

「我們使用好幾個不同的氣候模型途徑，」她說。「然而在我們的方法中，我們發現相同之處：在缺少人為導因下，我們無法形塑出如此的熱浪。」

新聞辭典

freezing：極冷的、冷淡的、冰點。例句：The temperature was below freezing. （溫度降至冰點以下。）

unseasonably：不合時令地、不合時宜地。例句：Winemakers have been worried about unseasonably warm weather.（酒廠對不合時令的溫暖天氣憂心忡忡。）

anthropogenic：人為的。例句： Anthropogenic activities are major threats to coral reefs.（人為活動對珊瑚礁構成主要威脅。）