VOA慢速英語(yǔ): 科學(xué)家創(chuàng)建新的海底地圖

Scientists Create New Maps of Ocean Floor
科學(xué)家創(chuàng)建新的海底地圖
We know more about the surface of the planet Mars than we know about what is at the bottom of Earth’s oceans.
對(duì)于火星表面，我們了解的知識(shí)比對(duì)地球海底了解的要多。
Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers, industry and governments.
直到最近，科學(xué)家才繪制了海底面積20%的地圖。但是得益于衛(wèi)星傳來(lái)的信息，我們對(duì)深海的了解也在改變?？茖W(xué)家繪制了一份新的地圖，給我們提供海洋詳細(xì)的畫(huà)面。這張地圖有望能夠幫助海洋學(xué)家、工業(yè)產(chǎn)業(yè)和各國(guó)政府。
The new map is two times as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean. He spoke to VOA on SKYPE.
這份新地圖比20年前的地圖詳細(xì)2倍。大衛(wèi)·桑德維爾是加利福尼亞大學(xué)斯克里普斯海洋學(xué)研究所的地理學(xué)教授。他和其他的科學(xué)家共同參與地圖項(xiàng)目的制作。他說(shuō)他們轉(zhuǎn)向太空來(lái)更深入地觀察海洋。他再Skype上對(duì)VOA說(shuō)。
“The way we’re doing that is to use a satellite altimeter, a radar to map the topography of the ocean surface. Now that seems sort of strange that you'd map the topography of the ocean surface when you really want to get at the sea floor. But, the ocean surface topography has these bumps and dips due to gravitational effects that mimic what’s on the sea floor.”
“我們使用衛(wèi)星測(cè)高儀、雷達(dá)來(lái)繪制海洋表面地形圖。當(dāng)你真的想去達(dá)到海底時(shí)，你才會(huì)繪制海洋表面的地形圖，這似乎有點(diǎn)奇怪。但是海洋表面地形圖的高低起伏歸因于模擬海底的重力作用。”
The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency's Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth’s orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency’s Jason-1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.
科學(xué)家收集的信息和研究材料來(lái)自兩個(gè)衛(wèi)星發(fā)布的消息。一些數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)自歐洲航天局的Cryo2號(hào)衛(wèi)星，它繞地球軌道，用來(lái)觀測(cè)海洋浮冰。另一個(gè)衛(wèi)星是美國(guó)航天局的杰森1號(hào)，它主要負(fù)責(zé)海洋表面?？茖W(xué)家把衛(wèi)星傳來(lái)的數(shù)據(jù)和圖像通過(guò)船上聲納設(shè)備相結(jié)合。聲波定位儀通過(guò)向水里發(fā)送聲音波來(lái)工作。當(dāng)聲波觸碰到物體時(shí)，它的信息就會(huì)得到確認(rèn)。
“That enables us to look at smaller-scale features and also features that are buried by sediments in the ocean basins.”
“這使得我們能夠看到小范圍內(nèi)的地形特征，也能夠看到海洋盆地沉積物掩埋的東西。”
The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.
新地圖展示給我們從未見(jiàn)過(guò)的洋底地形，展示了成千上萬(wàn)的水下山脈和斷裂的地方。展示了很多年前活躍的地震帶。這些都深深的埋在海底。
In one place, three mountain ridges join at the same area. Huge tectonic plates can be seen clearly there.
有一個(gè)地方，三座山脈的山脊在同一片區(qū)域結(jié)合，在那里可以清晰地看到巨大的版塊構(gòu)造。
“It’s called the Indian Ocean Triple Junction. It’s one of my favorite spots in the ocean because it really displays the theoretical aspects of plate tectonics perfectly. You have three plates -- the African plate, and the Indo-Australian plate and the Antarctic plate -- all connected at this one point in the center of the Indian Ocean.”
“這叫做印度洋海嶺，海洋里是我最喜歡的一個(gè)地方。因?yàn)檫@個(gè)海嶺確實(shí)完美地展示了版塊構(gòu)造理論。有三大版塊——非洲版塊、印澳版塊和南極板塊，這三大板塊在印度洋中心結(jié)合在一點(diǎn)。”
David Sandwell says the map is a powerful tool for fisheries, those interested in protecting the environment and for oil exploration.
大衛(wèi)·桑德威爾說(shuō)這張地圖對(duì)漁場(chǎng)、那些對(duì)環(huán)境保護(hù)以及對(duì)石油開(kāi)采感興趣的人來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)強(qiáng)有力的工具。
“(The) petroleum exploration industry is interested in how to reconnect the continents, bring them back together tectonically so you can map the basins(on) one continental margin -- say, Africa -- and use that to establish where the similar basin would be on the other continental margin in South America.”
石油勘探產(chǎn)業(yè)對(duì)如何把大陸重新連接起來(lái)感興趣，把他們重新連接到一個(gè)地質(zhì)構(gòu)造上，這樣你就可以在大陸邊緣畫(huà)出盆地，比如說(shuō)非洲，在南美的其它大陸邊緣來(lái)建立類似的盆地。
If scientists know that information, they may be able to find oil fields.
如果科學(xué)家了解那些信息，他們也許就能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)油田。
The new data also will help scientists improve their estimates of ocean depths. This information can help ships travel safely and improve military operations and scientific projects worldwide.
新數(shù)據(jù)同樣會(huì)幫助科學(xué)家提升他們估測(cè)海洋深度的能力。這些信息會(huì)幫助船只安全航行，提高軍事活動(dòng)能力，以及有助于世界范圍內(nèi)的科學(xué)項(xiàng)目研究。
“This new gravity map really provides a reconnaissance tool for planning shipboard surveys. You don’t have to go out with your ship and start looking for something new -- we can target that with the gravity and then go out with the ship and do the high resolution survey to really understand these features.”
“這一新的重力地圖確實(shí)為艦載測(cè)量提供勘察工具。你不需要跟著船出去就能發(fā)現(xiàn)一些新的東西。我們可以用重力地圖測(cè)量目標(biāo)，然后跟著船外出，做一些高分辨率的勘察，來(lái)真正地了解這些特點(diǎn)。”
Mr. Sandwell thinks scientists will make many more discoveries as they examine the new map and the information it provides.
桑德威爾認(rèn)為科學(xué)家在研究新地圖的過(guò)程中，會(huì)有更多的發(fā)現(xiàn)。
The work is described in the journal Science.
這篇文章是科學(xué)期刊上的內(nèi)容。
I’m Christopher Cruise.
我是克里斯特弗·克魯斯。