Ted Talks2016.3.30--- Laura Robinson : 我在神秘的海底發現的秘密

Ted Talks2016.3.30--- Laura Robinson : 我在神秘的海底發現的秘密
發佈日期：2016年3月30日
Hundreds of meters below the surface of the ocean, Laura Robinson probes the steep slopes of massive undersea mountains. She's on the hunt for thousand-year-old corals that she can test in a nuclear reactor to discover how the ocean changes over time. By studying the history of the earth, Robinson hopes to find clues of what might happen in the future.
数以百计的海洋表面以下米，劳拉罗宾逊探讨大规模海底山脉的陡坡。她在寻找千岁的珊瑚，她可以在核反应堆中进行测试，发现海洋如何随时间变化。通过研究地球的历史上，罗宾逊希望找到在未来可能会发生什么线索



==========Google 翻译==========

0:12Well, I'm an ocean chemist. 0:14I look at the chemistry of the ocean today. 0:16I look at the chemistry of the ocean in the past. 0:19The way I look back in the past 0:21is by using the fossilized remains of deepwater corals. 0:24You can see an image of one of these corals behind me. 0:27It was collected from close to Antarctica, thousands of meters below the sea, 0:31so, very different than the kinds of corals 0:33you may have been lucky enough to see if you've had a tropical holiday. 0:37So I'm hoping that this talk will give you 0:39a four-dimensional view of the ocean. 0:41Two dimensions, such as this beautiful two-dimensional image 0:45of the sea surface temperature. 0:47This was taken using satellite, so it's got tremendous spatial resolution. 0:51The overall features are extremely easy to understand. 0:54The equatorial regions are warm because there's more sunlight. 0:58The polar regions are cold because there's less sunlight.

1:01And that allows big icecaps to build up on Antarctica 1:04and up in the Northern Hemisphere. 1:06If you plunge deep into the sea, or even put your toes in the sea, 1:09you know it gets colder as you go down, 1:11and that's mostly because the deep waters that fill the abyss of the ocean 1:15come from the cold polar regions where the waters are dense. 1:19If we travel back in time 20,000 years ago, 1:22the earth looked very much different. 1:24And I've just given you a cartoon version of one of the major differences 1:28you would have seen if you went back that long. 1:30The icecaps were much bigger. 1:32They covered lots of the continent, and they extended out over the ocean. 1:35Sea level was 120 meters lower. 1:38Carbon dioxide [levels] were very much lower than they are today. 1:42So the earth was probably about three to five degrees colder overall, 1:45and much, much colder in the polar regions. 1:49What I'm trying to understand, 1:51and what other colleagues of mine are trying to understand, 1:54is how we moved from that cold climate condition 1:56to the warm climate condition that we enjoy today. 1:59We know from ice core research

2:01that the transition from these cold conditions to warm conditions 2:04wasn't smooth, as you might predict from the slow increase in solar radiation. 2:10And we know this from ice cores, because if you drill down into ice, 2:13you find annual bands of ice, and you can see this in the iceberg. 2:16You can see those blue-white layers. 2:18Gases are trapped in the ice cores, so we can measure CO2 -- 2:22that's why we know CO2 was lower in the past -- 2:24and the chemistry of the ice also tells us about temperature 2:27in the polar regions. 2:29And if you move in time from 20,000 years ago to the modern day, 2:32you see that temperature increased. 2:34It didn't increase smoothly. 2:36Sometimes it increased very rapidly, 2:38then there was a plateau, 2:39then it increased rapidly. 2:40It was different in the two polar regions, 2:42and CO2 also increased in jumps. 2:46So we're pretty sure the ocean has a lot to do with this. 2:49The ocean stores huge amounts of carbon, 2:52about 60 times more than is in the atmosphere. 2:54It also acts to transport heat across the equator, 2:58and the ocean is full of nutrients and it controls primary productivity.

3:02So if we want to find out what's going on down in the deep sea, 3:05we really need to get down there, 3:06see what's there 3:07and start to explore. 3:09This is some spectacular footage coming from a seamount 3:12about a kilometer deep in international waters 3:14in the equatorial Atlantic, far from land. 3:17You're amongst the first people to see this bit of the seafloor, 3:20along with my research team. 3:23You're probably seeing new species. 3:25We don't know. 3:26You'd have to collect the samples and do some very intense taxonomy. 3:29You can see beautiful bubblegum corals. 3:31There are brittle stars growing on these corals. 3:34Those are things that look like tentacles coming out of corals. 3:37There are corals made of different forms of calcium carbonate 3:40growing off the basalt of this massive undersea mountain, 3:43and the dark sort of stuff, those are fossilized corals, 3:46and we're going to talk a little more about those 3:49as we travel back in time. 3:51To do that, we need to charter a research boat. 3:53This is the James Cook, an ocean-class research vessel 3:56moored up in Tenerife. 3:57Looks beautiful, right? 3:59Great, if you're not a great mariner.

4:01Sometimes it looks a little more like this. 4:04This is us trying to make sure that we don't lose precious samples. 4:07Everyone's scurrying around, and I get terribly seasick, 4:10so it's not always a lot of fun, but overall it is. 4:13So we've got to become a really good mapper to do this. 4:15You don't see that kind of spectacular coral abundance everywhere. 4:19It is global and it is deep, 4:22but we need to really find the right places. 4:25We just saw a global map, and overlaid was our cruise passage 4:28from last year. 4:29This was a seven-week cruise, 4:31and this is us, having made our own maps 4:33of about 75,000 square kilometers of the seafloor in seven weeks, 4:37but that's only a tiny fraction of the seafloor. 4:40We're traveling from west to east, 4:41over part of the ocean that would look featureless on a big-scale map, 4:45but actually some of these mountains are as big as Everest. 4:48So with the maps that we make on board, 4:50we get about 100-meter resolution, 4:52enough to pick out areas to deploy our equipment, 4:55but not enough to see very much. 4:57To do that, we need to fly remotely-operated vehicles

5:00about five meters off the seafloor. 5:02And if we do that, we can get maps that are one-meter resolution 5:05down thousands of meters. 5:07Here is a remotely-operated vehicle, 5:09a research-grade vehicle. 5:12You can see an array of big lights on the top. 5:14There are high-definition cameras, manipulator arms, 5:17and lots of little boxes and things to put your samples. 5:21Here we are on our first dive of this particular cruise, 5:24plunging down into the ocean. 5:26We go pretty fast to make sure the remotely operated vehicles 5:29are not affected by any other ships. 5:31And we go down, 5:32and these are the kinds of things you see. 5:34These are deep sea sponges, meter scale. 5:38This is a swimming holothurian -- it's a small sea slug, basically. 5:43This is slowed down. 5:44Most of the footage I'm showing you is speeded up, 5:46because all of this takes a lot of time. 5:49This is a beautiful holothurian as well. 5:52And this animal you're going to see coming up was a big surprise. 5:55I've never seen anything like this and it took us all a bit surprised. 5:59This was after about 15 hours of work and we were all a bit trigger-happy,

6:03and suddenly this giant sea monster started rolling past. 6:05It's called a pyrosome or colonial tunicate, if you like. 6:08This wasn't what we were looking for. 6:10We were looking for corals, deep sea corals. 6:14You're going to see a picture of one in a moment. 6:16It's small, about five centimeters high. 6:19It's made of calcium carbonate, so you can see its tentacles there, 6:22moving in the ocean currents. 6:25An organism like this probably lives for about a hundred years. 6:28And as it grows, it takes in chemicals from the ocean. 6:31And the chemicals, or the amount of chemicals, 6:34depends on the temperature; it depends on the pH, 6:36it depends on the nutrients. 6:38And if we can understand how these chemicals get into the skeleton, 6:41we can then go back, collect fossil specimens, 6:44and reconstruct what the ocean used to look like in the past. 6:47And here you can see us collecting that coral with a vacuum system, 6:50and we put it into a sampling container. 6:53We can do this very carefully, I should add. 6:55Some of these organisms live even longer. 6:57This is a black coral called Leiopathes, an image taken by my colleague,

7:01Brendan Roark, about 500 meters below Hawaii. 7:04Four thousand years is a long time. 7:06If you take a branch from one of these corals and polish it up, 7:10this is about 100 microns across. 7:12And Brendan took some analyses across this coral -- 7:15you can see the marks -- 7:17and he's been able to show that these are actual annual bands, 7:20so even at 500 meters deep in the ocean, 7:22corals can record seasonal changes, 7:24which is pretty spectacular. 7:26But 4,000 years is not enough to get us back to our last glacial maximum. 7:30So what do we do? 7:31We go in for these fossil specimens. 7:34This is what makes me really unpopular with my research team. 7:37So going along, 7:38there's giant sharks everywhere, 7:39there are pyrosomes, there are swimming holothurians, 7:42there's giant sponges, 7:43but I make everyone go down to these dead fossil areas 7:46and spend ages kind of shoveling around on the seafloor. 7:49And we pick up all these corals, bring them back, we sort them out. 7:53But each one of these is a different age, 7:55and if we can find out how old they are 7:57and then we can measure those chemical signals,

8:00this helps us to find out 8:01what's been going on in the ocean in the past. 8:04So on the left-hand image here, 8:06I've taken a slice through a coral, polished it very carefully 8:09and taken an optical image. 8:11On the right-hand side, 8:12we've taken that same piece of coral, put it in a nuclear reactor, 8:15induced fission, 8:16and every time there's some decay, 8:18you can see that marked out in the coral, 8:20so we can see the uranium distribution. 8:22Why are we doing this? 8:23Uranium is a very poorly regarded element, 8:25but I love it. 8:27The decay helps us find out about the rates and dates 8:30of what's going on in the ocean. 8:31And if you remember from the beginning, 8:33that's what we want to get at when we're thinking about climate. 8:36So we use a laser to analyze uranium 8:38and one of its daughter products, thorium, in these corals, 8:41and that tells us exactly how old the fossils are. 8:44This beautiful animation of the Southern Ocean 8:46I'm just going to use illustrate how we're using these corals 8:50to get at some of the ancient ocean feedbacks. 8:54You can see the density of the surface water 8:56in this animation by Ryan Abernathey. 8:59It's just one year of data,

9:01but you can see how dynamic the Southern Ocean is. 9:04The intense mixing, particularly the Drake Passage, 9:07which is shown by the box, 9:10is really one of the strongest currents in the world 9:13coming through here, flowing from west to east. 9:15It's very turbulently mixed, 9:16because it's moving over those great big undersea mountains, 9:19and this allows CO2 and heat to exchange with the atmosphere in and out. 9:24And essentially, the oceans are breathing through the Southern Ocean. 9:28We've collected corals from back and forth across this Antarctic passage, 9:34and we've found quite a surprising thing from my uranium dating: 9:37the corals migrated from south to north 9:39during this transition from the glacial to the interglacial. 9:43We don't really know why, 9:44but we think it's something to do with the food source 9:46and maybe the oxygen in the water. 9:49So here we are. 9:50I'm going to illustrate what I think we've found about climate 9:53from those corals in the Southern Ocean. 9:55We went up and down sea mountains. We collected little fossil corals. 9:59This is my illustration of that.

10:00We think back in the glacial, 10:02from the analysis we've made in the corals, 10:04that the deep part of the Southern Ocean was very rich in carbon, 10:07and there was a low-density layer sitting on top. 10:10That stops carbon dioxide coming out of the ocean. 10:13We then found corals that are of an intermediate age, 10:16and they show us that the ocean mixed partway through that climate transition. 10:20That allows carbon to come out of the deep ocean. 10:24And then if we analyze corals closer to the modern day, 10:27or indeed if we go down there today anyway 10:29and measure the chemistry of the corals, 10:31we see that we move to a position where carbon can exchange in and out. 10:35So this is the way we can use fossil corals 10:37to help us learn about the environment. 10:41So I want to leave you with this last slide. 10:43It's just a still taken out of that first piece of footage that I showed you. 10:47This is a spectacular coral garden. 10:50We didn't even expect to find things this beautiful. 10:52It's thousands of meters deep. 10:54There are new species. 10:56It's just a beautiful place. 10:58There are fossils in amongst, 10:59and now I've trained you to appreciate the fossil corals

11:02that are down there. 11:03So next time you're lucky enough to fly over the ocean 11:06or sail over the ocean, 11:08just think -- there are massive sea mountains down there 11:10that nobody's ever seen before, 11:12and there are beautiful corals. 11:14Thank you. 11:15(Applause)


0:12好吧，我是一个海洋化学家。 0:14我看在海洋的今天化学。 0:16我看过去的海洋化学。 0:19路上我回头看过去 0:21是利用深水珊瑚化石。 0:24你可以看到我身后这些珊瑚之一的图像。 0:27它从靠近南极收集，千海米以下， 0:31所以，比种珊瑚很大的不同 0:33你可能已经足够幸运地看到，如果你有一个热带假期。 0:37所以我希望这次谈话给你 0:39海洋四维图。 0:41两个维度，比如这个美丽的二维图像 0:45海表面温度。 0:47这是利用卫星拍摄的，所以它有巨大的空间分辨率。 0:51总的特点是非常容易理解的。 0:54赤道地区是温暖的，因为有更多的阳光。 0:58极地寒冷，因为有日照较少。 1:01并允许大冰盖建立南极 1:04最多在北半球。 1:06如果你深深扎入海，甚至把你的脚趾在海中， 1:09你知道它也变得越来越冷，你去了， 1:11而这主要是因为，填补海洋深渊的深海水域 1:15来自哪里水域密集寒冷极地地区。 1:19如果时光倒流回去20000年前， 1:22地球看起来非常的不同。 1:24而我刚刚给你的主要区别之一的卡通版 1:28你会看到，如果你回去那么久。 1:30该冰盖都大得多。 1:32它们涵盖了很多大陆的，他们伸出了海洋。 1:35海平面120米低。 1:38二氧化碳[含量]分别比现在低很多。 1:42因此，地球是大概三到五度的寒冷整体， 1:45和很多在极地地区冷得多。 1:49我试图去理解， 1:51什么其它煤矿的同事们试图了解， 1:54是我们如何从寒冷气候条件感动 1:56今天，我们享受温暖的气候条件。 1:59我们从冰芯研究中得知

2:01从这些寒冷条件下过渡到温暖的气候条件 2:04并不顺利，因为你可能会从太阳辐射的缓慢增加预测。 2:10我们知道这个从冰核，因为如果你深入到冰， 2:13你发现冰年度乐队，你可以在冰山看到这一点。 2:16你可以看到那些蓝白色层。 2:18气体被困在冰核，所以我们可以测量二氧化碳 - 2:22这就是为什么我们知道CO2在过去较低的 - 2:24与冰的化学还告诉我们温度 2:27在极地地区。 2:29如果你在一次移动从20000年前到现代， 2:32你看，温度升高。 2:34它并不顺利增加。 2:36有时，它增加非常迅速， 2:38再有就是一个平台， 2:39然后将其迅速增加。 2:40正是在这两个极地地区不同， 2:42和二氧化碳中的跳跃也增加了。 2:46因此，我们可以肯定的海洋有很多与此有关。 2:49海洋商店大量的碳， 2:52超过约60倍是在大气中。 2:54它也用于横跨赤道输送热量， 2:58而海洋是营养丰富，它控制初级生产力。

3:02因此，如果我们想搞清楚这是怎么回事倒在深海， 3:05我们真的需要那里， 3:06看看那里的东西 3:07并开始探索。 3:09这是一些壮观的画面从海山未来 3:12关于深在国际水域一公里 3:14在赤道大西洋，远离陆地。 3:17你是跻身第一人看到海底此位， 3:20随着我的研究团队。 3:23你可能会看到一个新的物种。 3:25我们不知道。 3:26你必须收集样本，做一些非常激烈的分类。 3:29你可以看到美丽的珊瑚泡泡糖。 3:31有蛇尾这些珊瑚成长。 3:34这些事情看起来像触须出来珊瑚。 3:37有由不同形式的碳酸钙的珊瑚 3:40越来越多了这个庞大的海底山脉的玄武岩， 3:43与暗之类的东西，这些都是珊瑚化石， 3:46我们要谈一点关于这些 3:49当我们旅行回来的时间。 3:51要做到这一点，我们需要租一条船的研究。 3:53这是詹姆斯·库克，海洋级调查船 3:56在特内里费岛停泊了。 3:57看上去很美，不是吗？ 3:59伟大的，如果你不是一个伟大的水手。

4:01有时，它看起来更像这一点。 4:04这是我们努力确保我们不会失去宝贵的样品。 4:07每个人都在到处乱窜，我也得到非常晕船， 4:10因此它并不总是有很多乐趣，但总体来说它是。 4:13所以我们必须要成为一个真正的好映射做到这一点。 4:15你看不到那种壮观的珊瑚丰富的无处不在。 4:19它是全球性的，它是深刻的， 4:22但我们需要真正找到合适的地方。 4:25我们刚才看到一个全球地图，并覆盖是我们的巡航通道 4:28从去年开始。 4:29这是一个七周的巡航， 4:31这是我们在作出我们自己的地图 4:33的七周约75,000平方公里海底， 4:37但这只是海底的一小部分。 4:40我们从西向东行驶， 4:41在海洋上，将看特征的一个大比例地图上的一部分， 4:45但实际上有些山是大如珠穆朗玛峰。 4:48因此，与我们做船上的地图， 4:50我们得到大约100米分辨率， 4:52足以挑选出区域来部署我们的设备， 4:55但还不足以看到非常多。 4:57要做到这一点，我们需要飞远程操作车辆

5:00约五米了海底。 5:02如果我们做到这一点，我们可以得到在一米分辨率的地图 5:05倒万千米。 5:07这是一个远程操作车辆， 5:09研究级车。 5:12你可以看到在顶部的大灯光阵列。 5:14有高清摄像机，操纵臂， 5:17和大量的小盒子，事情把你的样品。 5:21下面我们就对我们这个特殊的邮轮第一次潜水， 5:24飞泻而下进入海洋。 5:26我们去相当快，以确保远程操作车辆 5:29不受任何其他船只。 5:31我们往下走， 5:32而这些都是各种各样的东西，你看到的。 5:34这些深海海绵，计刻度。 5:38这是一座海参 - 这是一个小的海参，基本上是这样。 5:43这是减慢。 5:44大多数我展示你的是加快了镜头， 5:46因为所有这一切都需要花费大量的时间。 5:49这是一个美丽的海参为好。 5:52而这种动物，你会看到上来是一个很大的惊喜。 5:55我从来没有见过这样的事，它把我们都有点吃惊。 5:59这是约15个小时的工作后，我们都有点好战的，

6:03突然这个巨大的海怪开始翻滚过去。 6:05这就是所谓的一个pyrosome或殖民地被囊动物，如果你喜欢。 6:08这不是我们所期待的。 6:10我们在寻找珊瑚，深海珊瑚。 6:14你会看到在一个时刻一个画面。 6:16它体积小，约五厘米高。 6:19它是由碳酸钙，所以你可以看到有它的触角， 6:22移动的洋流。 6:25像这样的生物体可能对生活大约一百年。 6:28并且因为它的增长，它需要在从海洋化学品。 6:31和化学品或化学品的量， 6:34取决于温度;这取决于pH值， 6:36这取决于营养素。 6:38如果我们能够了解这些化学物质是如何进入骨架， 6:41那么，我们就可以回去，收集化石标本， 6:44和重新构建海洋用来像过去。 6:47在这里，你可以看到我们收集珊瑚与真空系统， 6:50我们把它变成一个取样容器。 6:53我们可以非常仔细地做到这一点，我要补充。 6:55有些生物生活甚至更长的时间。 6:57这是一个名为Leiopathes，我的同事拍摄的图像的黑珊瑚，

7:01布伦丹·洛克，夏威夷以下约500米。 7:04四千年的时间很长。 7:06如果从这些珊瑚的人拿一个分支，把它擦亮了， 7:10这是跨越约100微米。 7:12和Brendan跨越了这个珊瑚一些分析 - 7:15你可以看到痕迹 - 7:17他一直能够证明这些都是实际年的乐队， 7:20因此，即使在500米深的海洋， 7:22珊瑚可以记录季节变化， 7:24这是相当壮观。 7:26但4000年是不够的，让我们回到我们的末次盛冰期。 7:30那么我们该怎么办？ 7:31我们去为这些化石标本。 7:34这是什么使我真正与我的研究团队不受欢迎。 7:37所以打算一起， 7:38有巨型鲨鱼随处可见， 7:39有pyrosomes，有游泳海参， 7:42有巨大的海绵， 7:43但我让每个人都去到这些死者化石区 7:46花年龄样的铲围绕在海底。 7:49我们拿起所有这些珊瑚，把他们带回，我们整理出来。 7:53但是，这些每一个都是不同的年龄， 7:55如果我们能发现他们是多么老 7:57然后我们就可以衡量这些化学信号，

8:00这有助于我们找到了 8:01什么在过去的海洋一直在进行。 8:04因此左侧图像上这里， 8:06我已经采取了分片通过珊瑚，非常精心打磨它 8:09和拍摄的光学图像。 8:11在右手侧， 8:12我们已经采取了同一块珊瑚，把它放在一个核反应堆， 8:15诱发裂变， 8:16而每次有一些衰减， 8:18你可以看到，在珊瑚标注出来， 8:20所以我们可以看到铀分布。 8:22我们为什么要这样做？ 8:23铀是一种非常糟糕视为元素， 8:25但我爱它。 8:27衰变帮助我们找出关于利率和日期 8:30在海洋发生了什么事情。 8:31如果你从一开始就记住， 8:33这就是我们想要得到的时候，我们正在考虑在气候。 8:36因此，我们使用激光来分析铀 8:38及其女儿产品，钍之一，在这些珊瑚， 8:41并告诉我们究竟化石多大年纪。 8:44这个美丽的南大洋动画 8:46我只是要使用说明我们是如何使用这些珊瑚 8:50得到一些古老的海洋反馈的。 8:54你可以看到地表水的密度 8:56在这部动画由Ryan Abernathey。 8:59这是短短一年的数据，

9:01但你可以看到在南大洋的动态性能。 9:04强烈的混合，特别是德雷克海峡， 9:07这是由框所示， 9:10真的是世界上最强大的电流中的一个 9:13通过这里来，自西向东流淌。 9:15这是非常湍流混合， 9:16因为它是动过那些伟大的大海底山脉， 9:19并且这允许CO 2和热量进出与大气交换。 9:24而且基本上，海洋通过南大洋呼吸。 9:28我们已经收集了来回在这个南极通道珊瑚， 9:34而且我们发现相当令人吃惊的事情从我的铀约会： 9:37迁移从南到北的珊瑚 9:39从冰川到间冰期在此过渡期间。 9:43我们真的不知道为什么， 9:44但我们认为它的东西做的食物来源 9:46也许在水中的氧气。 9:49所以，我们在这里。 9:50我要说明一下，我认为我们已经找到气候 9:53从南大洋的珊瑚。 9:55我们去上下海上仙山。我们收集了小珊瑚化石。 9:59这是我的插图。

10:00我们认为，早在冰川， 10:02从分析中我们在珊瑚做了， 10:04该南大洋深部是很丰富的碳， 10:07并有一个低密度层坐在上面。 10:10这将停止二氧化碳出来的海洋。 10:13然后，我们发现，有一个中间年龄的珊瑚， 10:16他们告诉我们，海洋通过气候转型中途混合。 10:20这使得碳出来深海。 10:24然后，如果我们分析珊瑚更接近现代， 10:27或者事实上，如果我们今天去那里呢 10:29并测量珊瑚的化学成分， 10:31我们看到，我们移动到一个位置的碳可以交换进出。 10:35所以这是我们可以用珊瑚化石的方式 10:37帮助我们了解环境。 10:41所以，我要离开你这个最后一张幻灯片。 10:43它只是一个还取出了第一张的镜头，我向您介绍的。 10:47这是一个壮观的珊瑚花园。 10:50我们甚至没有想到找东西这个美丽。 10:52这是数千米深。 10:54有新的物种。 10:56这只是一个美丽的地方。 10:58有化石之中， 10:59现在我训练你欣赏珊瑚化石

11:02这都出现了下滑。 11:03因此，下一次你足够幸运飞越海洋 11:06或航行在海洋上空， 11:08只是觉得 - 有大量的海上仙山那里 11:10那没人见过之前， 11:12并有美丽的珊瑚。 11:14谢谢。 11:15 （掌声）