科技报道148 气候变化威胁苏格兰历史珍宝

under threat.One ofthose identifiedis theIron Age building South HoweBroch on the islandof Rousay.Now,the seahas eatenaway muchof thesiteswestern area.The mainwall hasstarted fallinginto thesea.The Ringof Brodgaron theOrkney Islandsin Scotland,May

2000.Thereare morethan1,000prehistoric sitesontheOrkneys,making itthegreatest concentrationof anyplace inEurope.AP Photo/Lisa MariePaneJulie Gibsonis withthe Universityof theHighlands andIslands.She toldReuters news agencythat shefears thewhole structurewill onedaycompletely disappear.Each yeara littlemore fallsas thesea battersit/Gibson said.She saidexperts havediscovered inrecent yearsthat allof thesettlementarchaeology in the areais within100meters ofthe coastedge.zzSo asthesea takesthis heritageof oursaway,its takingall thatwe have/she said.A fewhundred meters away fromSouthHoweBroch isMidhowe Broch.This IronAgebuildingis stillin goodcondition becauseit hasbeenprotected bya seawall builtin the1930s.But expertssay eventhis sitefacesrisks ifclimate conditionscontinue toworsen.A climaterisk reportfor theOrkneys historical sites waspublished inJulyby theenvironmental groupHistoric EnvironmentScotland HES.Thegroup describedthe possibleeffects ofclimate changeon sitesasextreme/with ahigh levelof vulnerability.HES reportedthat theaverage precipitationrate hasrisen27percent inScotlandsince theearly1960s.During thesame period,winterprecipitation hasincreased morethan70percent inparts ofnorthernScotland,it found.Wetter weathermeans buildingsstay wetlonger.This increasesthechances ofwater enteringdeeply intostructures andcausing damage.Theprecipitation alsocan harmmetal partsof buildingsand leadto thegroundbecoming unstable.Over time,such damagecan causestructuralcollapse.Climate recordsshow thatsince1970,some Orkneybeaches havenarrowedby anaverage of40centimeters ayear.That comparesto ayearlyaverage lossof20centimeters between1890and

1970.In addition,increasing andmore intensestorms arethreatening theOrkneyshistoricalsites,HES reports.One exampleis SkaraBrae,one ofOrkneysmost famousplaces.Back whenpeople livedinthearea,it wasaboutone kilometerfrom thesea.Today itis justa fewmetersawayfromthe NorthAtlantic Ocean.Im Bryan Lynn.Reutersnewsagency reportedon thisstory.BryanLynnadapted thereportfor VOALearning English.Mario RitterJr.was theeditor.We wantto hearfrom you.Write tous inthe Commentssection,andvisit51VOA.COM.Words inThis Storysite-n.place wheresomething importanthappened inthe pastarchaeology-n.the studyof pasthuman lifeincluding bones,tools andstructuresbatter-v.to hithard heritage-n.the buildings,paintings,customs,etc.that areimportant ina cultureor societyvulnerable-adj.easily hurtorattacked precipitation-n.rain orsnow fallingto theground。