Scientists are struggling to understand why a burst of “scary” warming at the North Pole has pushed Arctic¹ temperatures nearly 20C higher than normal for this time of year.

科学家们感到费解，北极突然出现的“可怕”变暖为何会导致北极气温较同期水平高出近20摄氏度。

Experts in the US and Europe say they have been shocked by the soaring² temperatures recorded in November, when much of the region³ is plunged⁴ into freezing winter darkness.

美国和欧洲的专家表示，今年11月录得的不断飙升的气温让他们感到震惊，这个时候北极地区很多地方进入冰冷的极夜。

Temperatures this month have been as high as almost minus 5C when they are normally⁵ closer to minus 25C.

北极本月气温最高曾逼近零下5摄氏度，而通常在零下25摄氏度左右。

“We’ve been processing this data since 1958 and we haven’t really seen anything like this at this time of year,” said Rasmus Tonboe, a sea ice expert at the Danish Meteorological Institute. “We are watching the situation and trying to analyse what is going on but it’s very surprising.”

“我们从1958年开始处理这些数据，我们确实没有在一年中的这个时候看到过这么高的气温，”丹麦气象研究所(Danish Meteorological Institute)的海冰专家拉斯穆斯.汤波(Rasmus Tonboe)表示，“我们正在关注这一情况，试图分析其中的原因，但这非常奇怪。”

The unusual warmth has come as officials at the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said they were 95 per cent sure that 2016 would be the hottest year since records began in the 19th century. It would mean that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record have been this century.

在北极出现不同寻常的变暖之际，联合国世界气象组织(World Meteorological Organisation)的官员称，他们有95%的把握相信，2016年将是自19世纪有记录以来最热的一年。这将意味着，在有记录以来的17个最热年份中，有16个出现在本世纪。