I bet all of you are familiar with this view of the ocean, but the thing is, most of the ocean looks nothing like this. Below the sunlit surface waters, there's an otherworldly realm known as the twilight zone. At 200 to 1,000 meters below the surface, sunlight is barely a glimmer. Tiny particles swirl down through the darkness while flashes of bioluminescence give us a clue that these waters teem with life: microbes, plankton, fish. Everything that lives here has amazing adaptations for the challenges of such an extreme environment. These animals help support top predators such as whales, tuna, swordfish and sharks. There could be 10 times more fish biomass here than previously thought. In fact, maybe more than all the rest of the ocean combined. There are countless undiscovered species in deep waters, and life in the twilight zone is intertwined with earth's climate.
我打賭你們都熟悉這種海洋景觀, 但事實上 大部分海洋看起來不像這樣。 在陽光照射的海面下, 還有個非世俗的境界 被稱為「過渡區(twilight zone)」。 位於海面下 200 至 1000 公尺處, 陽光幾乎僅僅是一絲微光。 微小的粒子漩渦穿過黑暗, 同時閃爍著生物發的光, 提供我們這些水域充滿生命的線索: 微生物、浮游生物、魚。 這裡所有的生物 都能夠適應這種極端環境的挑戰。 這些動物幫助支撐頂級獵食者, 如鯨魚、金槍魚、箭魚和鯊魚。 這裡的魚類生物量 可能比以前想像的還多上十倍。 事實上,也許比海洋 其他地方的總和更多。 深水中有無數未被發現的物種, 過渡區的生活與地球氣候交織在一起。
Yet the twilight zone is virtually unexplored. There are so many things we still don't know about it.
然而,過渡區幾乎未被開發。 有很多我們仍不知道的事。
I think we can change that. I was drawn to oceanography by just this kind of challenge. To me it represents the perfect intersection of science, technology and the unknown, the spark for so many breakthrough discoveries about life on our planet.
我想我們能改變這一點。 我被這種挑戰吸引到海洋學領域。 對我而言,它代表科學、 技術和未知的完美交集, 是我們星球上許多有關 生命突破性發現的火花。
As a college student, I went on an expedition across the Atlantic with a team of scientists using a high-powered laser to measure microscopic algae. The wild thing that happened on that trip is that we discovered what everyone who looked before had completely missed: photosynthetic cells smaller than anyone thought possible. We now know those tiny cells are the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on earth. This amazing discovery happened because we used new technology to see life in the ocean in a new way. I am convinced that the discoveries awaiting us in the twilight zone will be just as breathtaking.
身為大學生時, 我和一群科學家在大西洋上探險, 使用高功率雷射光 來測量微觀藻類。 那次旅行發生的一件大事是 我們發現前人完全錯過了: 光合細胞比任何人認為的還要小。 如今我們知道這些微小的細胞 是地球上最豐富的光合生物。 這驚人的發現肇因於 我們使用新技術, 以新的方式觀察海洋生命。 我確信,在過渡區等待我們去發現的 將同樣令人嘆為觀止。
We know so little about the twilight zone because it's difficult to study. It's exceedingly large, spanning from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean and around the globe. It's different from place to place. It changes quickly as the water and animals move. And it's deep and dark and cold, and the pressures there are enormous.
我們對過渡區知之甚少, 因為很難研究它。 它的範圍廣大, 從北極到南大洋 和全球各地。 各地互不相同, 隨著水和動物的移動而迅速變化。 它深沉而黑暗、寒冷,且壓力巨大。
What we do know is fascinating. You may be imagining huge monsters lurking in the deep sea, but most of the animals are very small, like this lantern fish. And this fierce-looking fish is called a bristlemouth. Believe it or not, these are the most abundant vertebrates on earth and many are so small that a dozen could fit in this one tube.
我們已知的令人目眩神馳。 或許你想像的是潛伏深海的巨怪, 但大多數的動物都非常小, 就像這條燈籠魚。 這看起來兇猛的魚叫做「圓罩魚」。 信不信由你,這些是地球上 最富饒的脊椎動物, 許多小到這試管裡能放進一打之多。
It gets even more interesting, because small size does not stop them from being powerful through sheer number. Deep, penetrating sonar shows us that the animals form dense layers. You can see what I mean by the red and yellow colors around 400 meters in these data. So much sound bounces off this layer, it's been mistaken for the ocean bottom. But if we look, it can't be, because the layer is deep during the day, it rises up at night and the pattern repeats day after day. This is actually the largest animal migration on earth. It happens around the globe every day, sweeping through the world's oceans in a massive living wave as twilight zone inhabitants travel hundreds of meters to surface waters to feed at night and return to the relative safety of deeper, darker waters during the day.
更有趣的是 小尺寸不妨礙牠們「數大為強」。 深深穿透的聲納向我們展示 動物所形成的緻密層。 看紅色和黃色的數據 就能夠明白我的意思, 紅色和黃色是四百公尺左右的數據。 這層因反彈的聲音多 而被誤認為海底。 但如果仔細瞧,它不可能是海底, 因為這一層在白天很深, 而在夜間升起, 日復一日地重複這模式。 這實際上是地球上最大的動物遷徙, 每天發生在全球各地, 活動的巨波席捲全球的海洋, 攜帶過渡區的居民旅行數百公尺, 晚上到海面進食, 白天返回相對安全, 更深、更暗的水域。
These animals and their movements help connect the surface and deep ocean in important ways. The animals feed near the surface, they bring carbon in their food into the deep waters, where some of that carbon can stay behind and remain isolated from the atmosphere for hundreds or even thousands of years. In this way, the migration may help keep carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere and limit the effects of global warming on our climate.
這些動物和牠們的移動 協助海面和深海緊要地連接著。 這些動物靠近海面進食, 將食物中的碳帶入深海, 其中一些碳留在深海, 與大氣層隔絕長達 數百年甚至數千年之久。 這樣一來,遷移可能有助於 使二氧化碳遠離大氣層, 局限全球暖化對氣候的影響。
But we still have many questions. We don't know which species are migrating, what they're finding to eat, who is trying to eat them or how much carbon they are able to transport.
但我們仍有很多問題。 我們不知道哪些物種遷徙, 牠們尋覓什麼食物, 誰試圖獵食牠們, 或者牠們能夠運輸多少碳。
So I'm a scientist who studies life in the ocean. For me, curiosity about these things is a powerful driver, but there's more to the motivation here. We need to answer these questions and answer them quickly, because the twilight zone is under threat. Factory ships in the open ocean have been vacuuming up hundreds of thousands of tons of small, shrimp-like animals called krill. The animals are ground into fish meal to support increasing demands for aquaculture and for nutraceuticals such as krill oil. Industry is on the brink of deepening fisheries such as these into the mid-water in what could start a kind of twilight zone gold rush operating outside the reach of national fishing regulations. This could have irreversible global-scale impacts on marine life and food webs. We need to get out ahead of fishing impacts and work to understand this critical part of the ocean.
我是個研究海洋生物的科學家。 對這些事情的好奇心 對我而言是個強大的驅動力, 但還有更多的動機。 我們需要回答這些問題 並迅速地回答, 因為過渡區正受到威脅。 在公海上的工廠船隻 一直在吸捕數十萬噸 被稱為磷蝦的小型蝦類動物。 這些磷蝦被磨成魚粉 以支撐對水產養殖和磷蝦油等營養品 日益增長的需求。 這行業的捕魚活動正下探 這一類海域下面更深的海, 可能向過渡區淘金的熱潮 運行在國家捕撈法規範圍之外, 可能會對海洋生物和食物網 造成不可逆轉的全球影響。 我們必須在捕魚影響之前擺脫困境, 努力理解海洋的這一關鍵部分。
At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, I'm really fortunate to be surrounded by colleagues who share this passion. Together, we are ready to launch a large-scale exploration of the twilight zone. We have a plan to begin right away with expeditions in the North Atlantic, where we'll tackle the big challenges of observing and studying the twilight zone's remarkable diversity. This kind of multiscale, multidimensional exploration means we need to integrate new technologies.
在伍茲霍爾海洋學研究所, 我真的很幸運周遭全是 共有這種激情的同事們。 我們準備一起啟動 對過渡區的大規模探索。 我們計劃立即開始 在北大西洋進行探險, 在那裡我們將解決觀察和研究 過渡區多樣化的巨大挑戰。 這種多種規模、多個維度的勘探 意味著我們需要整合新的技術。
Let me show you a recent example that has changed our thinking. Satellite tracking devices on animals such as sharks are now showing us that many top predators regularly dive deep into the twilight zone to feed. And when we map their swimming patterns and compare them to satellite data, we find that their feeding hot spots are linked to ocean currents and other features. We used to think these animals found all of their food in surface waters. We now believe they depend on the twilight zone. But we still need to figure out how they find the best areas to feed, what they're eating there and how much their diets depend on twilight zone species.
讓我述說最近一個 改變我們想法的例子。 對鯊魚等動物的衛星追蹤裝置 現在向我們展示了許多頂級獵食者 經常深深潛入過渡區去覓食。 我們繪製牠們的游泳模式, 與衛星數據比對, 發現牠們的攝食熱點 與洋流和其他的特性有關。 我們曾經認為這些動物 在海面找到所有的食物。 而現在相信牠們依賴過渡區供食。 但我們仍需弄清楚 牠們如何找到最佳進食區, 牠們在那裡吃什麼, 和多少的飲食取決於過渡區的物種。
We will also need new technologies to explore the links with climate. Remember these particles? Some of them are produced by gelatinous animals called salps. Salps are like superefficient vacuum cleaners, slurping up plankton and producing fast-sinking pellets of poop -- try saying that 10 times fast -- pellets of poop that carry carbon deep into the ocean. We sometimes find salps in enormous swarms. We need to know where and when and why and whether this kind of carbon sink has a big impact on earth's climate.
我們還需要新的技術 來探索與氣候的聯繫。 還記得這些粒子嗎? 部分由海樽(salps)這種 凝膠狀動物所產生。 海樽就像超級吸塵器, 吸入浮游生物, 排出快速下沉的糞便── 嘗試以十倍速說說看── 沉重的糞便攜帶碳到海洋的深處。 有時我們發現巨大的海樽群。 我們需要知道何時、何地、為什麼, 以及這種碳的匯集 是否對地球氣候產生重大的影響。
To meet these challenges, we will need to push the limits of technology. We will deploy cameras and samplers on smart robots to patrol the depths and help us track the secret lives of animals like salps. We will use advanced sonar to figure out how many fish and other animals are down there. We will sequence DNA from the environment in a kind of forensic analysis to figure out which species are there and what they are eating. With so much that's still unknown about the twilight zone, there's an almost unlimited opportunity for new discovery. Just look at these beautiful, fascinating creatures. We barely know them. And imagine how many more are just down there waiting for our new technologies to see them.
為了應對這些挑戰, 我們得把技術推到極限。 我們將在智能機器人上 部署攝影機和採樣器, 來幫我們追蹤海樽之類 動物的秘密生活。 我們將使用先進的聲納 弄清楚下面有多少魚和其他的動物。 我們將為那環境裡的生物 做 DNA 排序和法醫式的分析, 找出那裡有哪些物種, 以及牠們吃些什麼。 對過渡區的情況仍有這麼多的未知, 幾乎有無限的機會能獲得新發現。 只要看看這些美麗、迷人的生物。 我們幾乎毫不了解牠們。 想像那裡還有多少 在等待我們用新技術看到牠們。
The excitement level about this could not be higher on our team of ocean scientists, engineers and communicators. There is also a deep sense of urgency. We can't turn back the clock on decades of overfishing in countless regions of the ocean that once seemed inexhaustible. How amazing would it be to take a different path this time?
我們海洋科學家、工程師和傳播團隊 對此的興奮程度不可能更高了。 還有一種深刻的緊迫感。 我們不能將時光倒流, 數十年來無數過度捕撈的海洋地區 曾有過看似取之不盡的資源。 這次走不同的路會多精彩呢?
The twilight zone is truly a global commons. We need to first know and understand it before we can be responsible stewards and hope to fish it sustainably. This is not just a journey for scientists, it is for all of us, because the decisions we collectively make over the next decade will affect what the ocean looks like for centuries to come.
過渡區確是個全球公有的區域。 我們需要先認識和理解它, 才能成為負責任的管家, 和有望永續地捕魚。 這旅程不限於科學家, 而是所有人的, 因為在未來十年我們共同作出的決定 將會影響未來幾個世紀的海洋相貌。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)