紅海底部冒出的大氣污染源

Hydrocarbon gases bubbling from the bottom of the Red Sea are polluting the atmosphere at a rate equivalent to the emissions of some large fossil fuel exporting countries, researchers said Tuesday.

研究人員周二表示，從紅海底部冒出的碳?xì)浠衔餁怏w對大氣的污染速度，相當(dāng)于一些大型化石燃料出口國的排放量。

The gases seeping from the waters - which are ringed by the resorts and ports of several countries, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - then mix with emissions from industrial shipping and turned into noxious pollutants that are very harmful to human health.

這些從海水中滲出的氣體被埃及、以色列、約旦和沙特阿拉伯等幾個國家的度假勝地和港口所包圍，然后與工業(yè)船舶的排放混合，變成對人類健康非常有害的有害污染物。

The Middle East holds more than half of the world's oil and gas reserves and the intense fossil fuel exploitation that takes place there, and the region releases enormous amounts of gaseous pollutants into the atmosphere.

中東地區(qū)擁有世界上一半以上的石油和天然氣儲量，而且那里的化石燃料開采十分密集，該地區(qū)向大氣中排放大量的氣態(tài)污染物。

But during a 2017 expedition around the Gulf, researchers at the Max Plank Institute for Chemistry noticed that levels of ethane and propane in the air above the Northern Red Sea were up to 40 times higher than predicted, even accounting for regional manmade emissions.

但在2017年的一次海灣考察中，馬克斯普朗克化學(xué)研究所(Max Plank Institute for Chemistry)的研究人員注意到，北部紅海上空的空氣中乙烷和丙烷的含量比預(yù)測的高了40倍，甚至包括了該地區(qū)的人為排放。

The team analysed possible sources for the gas emissions, including traffic, agriculture, burning of biomass, and power generation from hydrocarbons.

該小組分析了可能的氣體排放來源，包括交通、農(nóng)業(yè)、生物質(zhì)燃燒和碳?xì)浠衔锇l(fā)電。

They came to an unexpected conclusion: the two gases had to be seeping out of the sea bed after escaping natural subterranean oil and gas reservoirs.

他們得出了一個意想不到的結(jié)論:這兩種氣體一定是從天然地下油氣藏中逸出的。

They were then carried by currents to the surface, where they mix with another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, which is emitted in high amounts by industrial shipping.

然后它們被洋流帶到表面，與另一種由工業(yè)船運大量排放的溫室氣體一氧化二氮混合。

The resulting gas compounds are extremely harmful to human health, according to the team's study, published in Nature Communications.

根據(jù)發(fā)表在《自然通訊》(Nature Communications)雜志上的研究，由此產(chǎn)生的氣體化合物對人類健康極其有害。

I have to admit that I was surprised myself with these results, lead author Efstratios Boursoukidis told AFP.

“我必須承認(rèn)，我自己也對這些結(jié)果感到驚訝。”該研究的第一作者ef層萊斯·布爾蘇基迪斯告訴法新社。

We spent almost two years working on this dataset to confidently prove that the emissions were coming some two kilometres below the sea surface.

“我們花了近兩年的時間來研究這個數(shù)據(jù)，確信排放物來自海平面以下約兩公里處。”

The team calculated that the rate of ethane and propane leakage was "comparable in magnitude" to those of several hydrocarbon exporting nations, such as the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait.

該小組計算出，乙烷和丙烷的泄漏率與幾個碳?xì)浠衔锍隹趪?如阿聯(lián)酋或科威特)的泄漏率“大小相當(dāng)”。

The emissions result in another source of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, the study said.

研究稱，這些排放是大氣中一種強(qiáng)有力的溫室氣體——甲烷的另一個主要來源。

The situation is exacerbated by nitrous oxide pollution from the large number of shipping containers passing through the northern Red Sea, one of Earth's busiest transport lanes.

作為地球上最繁忙的運輸通道之一，因大量的集裝箱經(jīng)過北紅海，一氧化二氮的污染使情況更加惡化。

And it's only likely to get worse as the route gets busier.

而且，隨著線路變得繁忙，情況只會變得更糟。