Question 9 is based on the passage you have just heard.

Passage One

听力原文

    During the Arctic winter from October to March, the average temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around minus 20 degrees Celsius. But this year, the Arctic is experiencing much higher temperatures.

    On February 20th, the temperature in Greenland climbed above freezing or zero degree Celsius and it stayed there for over 24 hours. (9) Then, on February 24th, the temperature on Greenland’s northern tip reached six degrees Celsius. Climate scientists described the phenomenon as stunning.

    (10) Weather conditions that drive this bizarre temperature surge have visited the Arctic before. They typically appear about once in a decade. However, the last such increasing temperature took place two years ago.

    This is troubling as climbing Arctic temperatures combined with rapid sea-ice loss are creating a new type of climate feedback loop which could accelerate Arctic warming. Indeed, sea-ice cover in the Arctic is melting faster than expected. Without those masses of cooling sea ice, warm air brought to the Arctic can penetrate further inland than it ever did before. The air can stay warmer, longer too. This drives additional melting.

    Overall, Earth is warming at a rapid pace—2014 through 2017 rank as the hottest years on record and the Arctic is warming twice as fast as any place else on Earth. This raises unique challenges for Arctic wildlife and indigenous people, who depend on Arctic ecosystems to survive.

    Previously, climate forecasts predicted that Arctic summer ice would disappear entirely by around 2060. (11) But based on what scientists are seeing now, the Arctic may be facing summers without ice within 20 years.

9. What did climate scientists describe as stunning?

解析：A。原文中说到，气象学家认为这种现象（the phenomenon）令人震惊，而这一现象在前一句中有提及，即格陵兰岛最北端温度达到了6℃，温度之高让气象学家震惊，因此本题选A。