THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING ON OCEAN TEMPERATURES

Most researchers agree that the recent global warming trend is due to greenhouse gases

(that) humans have put into the atmosphere. Over the past few decades, there has been an intense scientific debate over whether (=if×) global warming would affect the oscillations between El Niño and La Niña. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, as opposed to La Niña, which is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. For the past several millennia, the Pacific Ocean has alternated between these two states in an irregular, though basically balanced oscillation. Some theorize that if the oscillation stops, the Earth will go (조건절) through a continuous El Niño-like state which could warm the Earth very quickly.

Q01 Ordinarily(보통) the cool surface layer of the eastern Pacific Ocean acts as a water-cooled radiator and removes heat from the tropical atmosphere by carrying it hundreds of meters below the surface. The ocean currents act as the coolant that absorbs atmospheric heat, but in an El Niño year, both the shallow and deep waters are too hot to diffuse the atmospheric heat, causing a warming and strange weather patterns. Although El Niño events are too short to have lasting effects nowadays, some climate scientists question the tropical Pacific’s ability to cool the atmosphere under growing global warming effects. However, recent studies into the  ancient=(prehistoric)  climate of the Eocene Epoch indicate that the tropical Pacific may actually be more resilient to global warming than the current climate theory claims.

A    Q02   Q04  Some of the researchers hypothesized that the Eocene Epoch would be the best period to compare with if a continuous El Niño-like state had ever existed.   B   Based on this hypothesis, they stimulated the computer model of a “hothouses” climate in the Eocene Epoch to see the tropical Pacific’s role under a continuous El Niño-like state. Contrary to most beliefs that the Pacific Ocean consists of two layers with ①shallows absorbing heat and ②depths carrying it away, it has been proven that the tropical eastern Pacific also has a third layer wedged between the two.   C   Because this third layer historically remained cool and acted as a barrier between the warmer shallow and depth water, Eocene tropics were not much different than(=from) they are today.   D   This finding was further supported by other studies which used sediment records of ancient lakebeds in present-day Wyoming and Germany.  Q03  These sediment records demonstrated that El Niño events occurred with identical regularity in the Eocene Epoch’s climate computer model, indicating that there was no continuous El Niño state, even though the climate was significantly warmer.

1. if / whether (~인지 아닌지)/명사절을 이끄는 접속사

1)목적어나 보어로 쓰일 경우 if나 whether를 둘 다 쓸 수 있다.

Whether는 좀더 격식을 갖춘 표현이며 일상 영어에서는 if를 많이 쓴다.

EX)  I wonder if I should wear a suit or not.

= I wonder whether I should wear a suit or not.

2)보어로 쓰일 때는 whether을 if로 바꿔 쓸 수 있다

EX) We all know he's the best man for the job. The question is whether(if) he will take       it or not.

3) 주어나 전치사의 목적어로 쓰일 경우에는 whether만 쓴다.

격식을 차린 표현으로 뒤에 or not을 쓸 수도 있다.

EX) Does she come? + It's another matter.

→ Whether she comes or not is another matter.

If she comes or not is another matter. (X)

2. 혼합 가정문 (과거에 실현되지 못한 일이 현재에도 영향을 미칠 때)

If +S + had p.p(가정법 과거완료) , S + would + 동.원(가정법 과거)

EX) If I hadn't bought the bag, I wouldn't be broke now.

cf) If he were not my old friend, I would have fired him long ago.

3. 유의어 go through = experience    diffuse = disperse

resilient =  recover       sediment = residue

significantly = prominently

어휘 |  global warming 지구 온난화    temperature 온도, 기온    greenhouse gas 온실 가스   oscillation 움직임, (규칙적인)진동 radiator 냉각기, 방열기   tropical 열대의    ocean current 해류    absorb 흡수하다    diffuse 분산시키다    ancient 고대의 resilient 탄력성 있는, 회복력 있는     hypothesize 가정하다, 가설을 세우다    shallow 얕은    barrier 장벽, 벽   lakebed 호수 바닥 regularity 규칙적인 패턴, 정기적임