> Climate change could affect timekeeping, study says
研究：氣候變化或?qū)⒂绊懭蛴?jì)時(shí)

Climate change is affecting the speed of the Earth's rotation and could impact how we keep time, a study says.
一項(xiàng)研究稱，氣候變化正在影響地球的自轉(zhuǎn)速度，并可能影響人類的計(jì)時(shí)方式。

"Global warming is already affecting global timekeeping," says the study, published in the journal Nature.
這項(xiàng)發(fā)表在《自然》（Nature）雜志上的研究指出："全球變暖已經(jīng)在影響全球計(jì)時(shí)。"

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) - which is used by most of the world to regulate clocks and time - is calculated by the Earth's rotation.
"協(xié)調(diào)世界時(shí)"（UTC）是根據(jù)地球自轉(zhuǎn)計(jì)算出來的，世界上大多數(shù)國(guó)家都用它來管理時(shí)鐘和時(shí)間。

But the Earth's rotation rate is not constant and can therefore have an effect on how long our days and nights are.
但地球的自轉(zhuǎn)速度并不是恒定的，因此會(huì)對(duì)我們的晝夜長(zhǎng)短產(chǎn)生影響。

Changes to the planet's liquid core have meant the Earth has been spinning slightly quicker.
地球液態(tài)內(nèi)核的變化意味著地球自轉(zhuǎn)速度略快。

Since the 1970s, to correct for this, about 27 leap seconds have been added to the global clock, with timekeepers planning on subtracting a second for the first time in 2026. This is known as a "negative leap second."
自 20 世紀(jì) 70 年代以來，為了糾正這一現(xiàn)象，全球時(shí)鐘已經(jīng)增加了約 27 個(gè)閏秒，計(jì)時(shí)員計(jì)劃將在 2026 年首次減少一秒。這被稱為 "負(fù)閏秒"。

However, the study finds that ice melting caused by climate change has partly offset that acceleration.
然而，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，氣候變化導(dǎo)致的冰雪融化部分抵消了這一加速。

Ice sheets are now losing mass five times faster than they were 30 years ago, meaning that the negative leap second change will not be needed until 2029, the study suggests.
研究表明，冰蓋現(xiàn)在的質(zhì)量損失速度是30年前的5倍，這意味著可能直到2029年才需要負(fù)閏秒的變化。

"It's kind of impressive, even to me, we've done something that measurably changes how fast the Earth rotates," Duncan Agnew, the author of the study, told NBC News.
這項(xiàng)研究的作者鄧肯?阿格紐告訴美國(guó)全國(guó)廣播公司新聞（NBC News）："即使對(duì)我來說，我們已經(jīng)做了一些可以適度地改變地球旋轉(zhuǎn)速度的事情，這也是令人印象深刻的。"

"Things are happening that are unprecedented."
"正在發(fā)生的事情是前所未有的。"

The negative leap second has never been used before and, according to the study, its use "will pose an unprecedented problem" for computer systems across the world.
負(fù)閏秒以前從未使用過，根據(jù)這項(xiàng)研究，負(fù)閏秒的使用將給全球計(jì)算機(jī)系統(tǒng) "帶來前所未有的問題"。

"This has never happened before, and poses a major challenge to making sure that all parts of the global timing infrastructure show the same time," Mr Agnew, who is a researcher at the University of California, San Diego told AFP news agency.
加利福尼亞大學(xué)圣迭戈分校的研究員阿格紐先生告訴法新社記者："這種情況以前從未發(fā)生過，這對(duì)確保全球計(jì)時(shí)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的所有部分都顯示相同的時(shí)間構(gòu)成了重大挑戰(zhàn)。"

"Many computer programs for leap seconds assume they are all positive, so these would have to be rewritten," he added.
他補(bǔ)充說："許多計(jì)算閏秒的計(jì)算機(jī)程序都假定它們都是正數(shù)，因此這些程序必須重寫。"

There has been some skepticism of the study, however.
然而，也有一些人對(duì)這項(xiàng)研究持懷疑態(tài)度。

Demetrios Matsakis, former chief scientist for time services at the US Naval Observatory, told AFP that "Earth is too unpredictable to be sure" if a negative leap second would be needed any time soon.
美國(guó)海軍天文臺(tái)負(fù)責(zé)時(shí)間服務(wù)的前首席科學(xué)家德米特里奧斯?馬薩基斯告訴法新社說，"地球太不可預(yù)測(cè)了，無法確定是否在不久的將來就需要負(fù)閏秒。"

Human activities like burning fossil fuels are causing world temperatures to rise.
燃燒化石燃料等人類活動(dòng)正在導(dǎo)致全球氣溫上升。

That temperature rise is having a huge effect on the environment, including the rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
氣溫上升對(duì)環(huán)境產(chǎn)生了巨大影響，包括冰川和冰蓋的迅速融化。

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