一块没有冰雪覆盖的土地将吸收更多的太阳热能。 换句话说，我们的温室气体排放通过制造足以融化北极冰层的热量，反过来又制造了一个产生更多热量的循环并随之融化更多的冰层，而即便我们能在明天就完全杜绝温室气体排放，这个循环将依然继续运作下去。
An ice-free surface absorbs more warmth from the sun than one covered in snow or ice.  In other words, our greenhouse gas emissions have, by causing enough warming to melt the arctic ice, created a feedback loop that will generate more warming, and melt more ice, even if we were to stop emitting all greenhouse gases tomorrow.