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  3. World the Weather Become Warm to Spark South Pole the Sea Level Ups? A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how m

World the Weather Become Warm to Spark South Pole the Sea Level Ups? A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how m

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问题         World the Weather Become Warm to Spark South Pole the Sea Level Ups?
    A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica’s massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming.
    The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet.
    The scientists also predicted that seas would rise unevenly, with an additional 1.5 foot increase in levels along the east and west coasts of North America. That is because the shift in a huge mass of ice away from the South Pole would subtly change the strength of gravity locally and the rotation of the Earth.
    Several Antarctic specialists familiar with the new study had mixed reactions to the projections. But they and the study’s lead author, Jonathan L. Bamber, agreed that the odds of a disruptive rise in seas over the next century or so from the buildup of greenhouse gases remained serious enough to deserve the world’s attention.
    They also uniformly called for renewed investment in satellites measuring ice and field missions that could within a few years substantially clarify the risk.
    There is strong consensus that warming waters around Antarctica, and Greenland in the Arctic will result in centuries of rising seas. But glaciologists and oceanographers still say there is uncertainty about the vital question of how fast coasts will retreat in a warming world in the next century or two.
    The new study did not assess the pace or the likelihood of a rise in seas. The goal was to examine as precisely as possible how much ice could flow into the sea if warming seawater penetrated between the West Antarctic ice sheet and the bedrock beneath.
    For decades West Antarctic ice has been identified as particularly vulnerable to melting because, although piled more than one mile above sea level in many places, it also rests on bedrock a half mile to a mile beneath sea level in others. That topography means that warm water could progressively melt spots where ice is stuck to the rock,allowing it to flow more freely.
    Erik I. Ivins.a scientist at NASA,described the new paper as "good solid science". But added that the sea-level estimates could not be verified without renewed investment in satellite missions and other initiatives that were currently lagging.
    Robert Bindschadler, a specialist in polar ice, said the study provided only a low estimate of Antarctica’s possible long-term contribution to rising seas because it did not deal with other mechanisms that could add water to the ocean.
    The prime question, he said, remains what will happen in the next 100 years or so, and other recent work implies that a lot of ice can be shed within that time.
According to the passage, what is the fundamental cause of the rising sea level?
选项 A、The breakup of ice sheets.
B、Global warming.
C、The flow of ice into the sea.
D、Environmental pollution.
答案B
解析 事实细节题。由题干中的the rising sea level定位到第一段第一句．．．sea levels could rise if Antarctica’s massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming．可知，由于全球气候变暖南极洲西部的巨大冰原完全解体，从而导致海平面上升。[B]“全球气候变暖"与原文内容一致，故正确。[A]“冰原解体”是导致海平面升高的原因，但不是根本原因，故排除；[C]“冰块漂人海洋"是海平面上升的直接原因，也非根本原因，故排除；[D]“环境污染”，文中没有提到，故排除。
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