Scientists in Canada have documented how an immense river that flowed across the country’s Yukon Territory for centuries, vanished in a matter of days last spring.
科學家在加拿大記錄到一條幾世紀以來流經境內育空地區的大河，在去年春天幾天內便憑空消失的情況。
The abrupt disappearance of the Slims River is the first observed case of ‘river piracy’ – where the source of one river is suddenly diverted into another.
斯林姆河突然消失是第一個「河川襲奪」被發現的案例，即當地的河流源頭突然轉入另一條河流。
The incident reported in the journal ‘Nature Geoscience’ has been held up as an extremely worrying illustration of the effects of global warming – and an example of how incremental temperature increases can lead to sudden and drastic environmental impacts.
這起事件發表於《自然地球科學》期刊，它被視為全球暖化帶來的影響中，一項令人強烈擔憂的例證，也是一個氣溫增幅增大可能導致突發且戲劇化環境衝擊的實例。
The disappearance of the river – which spanned up to 150 metres at its widest point – has dramatically altered the landscape and ecology of the territory.
這條最寬處達150公尺的河流消失，已經劇烈改變了該地區的景觀及生態。
The study documents how the retreat of the Kaskawulsh Glacier – one of the largest in Canada – led to a drastic change in the destination of its meltwater in spring 2016.
這項研究記錄了卡斯卡沃許冰河在2016年春天的退縮，該河是加拿大最大的冰河之一，導致融冰之水流往的目的地劇變。
River piracy events can take thousands of years to occur and the speed of the change in course has shocked researchers - with flow data revealing it occurred over a few short days between the 26th and 29th May 2016.
河川襲奪事件的發生通常需要數千年，其發生的速度改變震驚了研究人員；流量資料顯示，這一切發生在2016年5月26至29日的短短數日。
Source article: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1096740&day=2017-04-24