海洋雪有助预测气候变化（在线收听）

海洋雪有助预测气候变化

As if materializing from a different dimension, the submersible device called PELAGRA slips below the surface and sinks into a research pool at the National Oceanography Centre, in Southampton, England.

位于英格兰南开普敦的国家海洋学中心，一种名叫“PELAGRA”的水下仪器潜入了我们的水下研究池，我们这次是以不同规格建造了该仪器。

Soon, two such devices will be deployed to the South Atlantic to collect samples of so-called ‘marine snow.’

不久之后，这两种仪器将被派往南大西洋，收集一种称为“海洋雪”的物质。

Marine snow is composed of dead phytoplankton which sort of clump together to form flakes and then they're heavy enough to sink down into the deep ocean. It can also be formed by little animals which eat the little plants and then they poop out that carbon, and then their fecal pellets are very heavy and they sink down to the bottom of the ocean, also carrying lots of carbon with them.

海洋雪是由已死的浮游植物所组成，并形成类似碎片的聚集体，由于体积过大，它们能够到达深海。浮游生物也可以形成海洋雪，它们以浮游植物为食，并排放出碳，由于他们的粪便颗粒过于庞大，海洋雪也会沉于海底，并携带碳物质。

Although invisible to the naked eye, phytoplankton are so abundant that they are responsible for half of all the carbon absorbing photosynthetic activity on earth.

尽管我们肉眼看不见，但是浮游植物的数量太过庞大，它们承担了地球上一半的光合作用。

Understanding that process could help scientists create more advanced computer models of global environmental changes.

通过了解这一过程，科学家就能够制造出更为先进计算机模型，并因此来检测气候变化。

The challenge was to build a submersible device that could float between 50 and 500 meters deep. That's where scientists say all this carbon is being absorbed, and beginning its journey to the bottom of the sea.

该项挑战就是要制作出能够潜入水下50-500米深的水下仪器。科学家认为碳物质全部都会在这个位置得到吸收，之后再进行海底工作。

The way that we do that is by putting them in tanks of water like this and adding weights until they're just sinking; at which point we know they have the same density as the water that they're sitting in.

我们把它们放进水箱里，就像这样，增加重量让它潜入水底；并让它们与水保持相同的密度。

PELAGRA will suck ocean water with marine snow into containers and periodically bring them to the surface for detailed study.

“PELAGRA ”将会收集海洋雪，并定期对它进行细致研究。

Scientists hope that PELAGRA devices will help them answer another interesting question why is marine snow more abundant in some parts of the ocean than in others.

科学家希望“PELAGRA ”仪器能够帮助解答另一个有趣问题，那就是为什么海洋雪在海洋中的分配如此不均问题。