Eyeing Earth: From Cloud Top to Seabed.
縱覽地球—從云端到海底
1. Earth scientists are beginning to live what they once considered an impossible dream. They are establishing systems to monitor our entire planet continuously, from the outer fringes of the atmosphere to the deepest seabed. They even are beginning to track the grinding of rock upon rock that generates earthquakes.
1、地球科學(xué)家們開(kāi)始將以前被認(rèn)為是不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)的夢(mèng)想變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實(shí)。他們正在建立可以持續(xù)不斷地監(jiān)控我們整個(gè)地球的系統(tǒng)，上至大氣外層邊緣，下至海床最深處。他們甚至開(kāi)始追蹤導(dǎo)致地震產(chǎn)生的巖石間的摩擦。
2. They are linking communications systems to shunt these data to whomever can work them into useful knowledge. Often this now can be done in minutes instead of hours, days, or weeks. An unprecedented cooperation is developing among nations so that earth scientists will no longer look at our planet in the old, fragmented way.
2、科學(xué)家們正在將各個(gè)通訊系統(tǒng)連接起來(lái)，從而將收集到的數(shù)據(jù)資料傳輸給任何可將其轉(zhuǎn)化為有用知識(shí)的使用者。這項(xiàng)工作現(xiàn)在往往只需幾分鐘而不是幾小時(shí)、幾天或幾星期就能完成。一項(xiàng)空前的合作正在各國(guó)間展開(kāi)，從此以后地球科學(xué)家們?cè)僖膊恍枰藐惻f和零敲碎打的方式來(lái)研究我們所在的行星了。
3. These technological developments have brought humanity to the brink of "great opportunities," said American Geophysical Union president John Orcutt at a meeting of the group last week in San Francisco. A few of many instances of such opportunities presented at the meeting illustrate this.
3、美國(guó)地球物理學(xué)會(huì)主席約翰·奧克特在該組織上周于舊金山召開(kāi)的會(huì)議上指出，這些技術(shù)上的發(fā)展已使人類十分接近“大好機(jī)遇”。這次會(huì)議上介紹了與這些機(jī)遇相關(guān)的許多實(shí)例，其中幾個(gè)說(shuō)明了這一點(diǎn)。
4. Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., where Dr. Orcutt is deputy director, have developed a way to use the worldwide seismic observing network to image earthquake ruptures. Within 30 minutes or less, they can trace the entire crustal rupture that produces a quake anywhere in the world. This information is much more valuable than merely pinpointing the quake epicenter. "This is important for tsunami warning systems in which you need to know a path——not just the original location—of an earthquake," explains Scripps scientist Peter Shearer.
4、由奧克特博士任副所長(zhǎng)的加利福尼亞拉霍亞市斯克里普斯海洋研究所的科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)開(kāi)發(fā)出一種利用全球地震監(jiān)控網(wǎng)絡(luò)來(lái)形象地描繪地表斷裂的方法。在30分鐘或更短的時(shí)間內(nèi)，他們就能完整地追蹤到地球上任何一處導(dǎo)致地震的地殼斷裂帶。這一信息比僅僅確定震中的位置要有價(jià)值得多。斯克里普斯的科學(xué)家彼得·希勒解釋說(shuō)：“這對(duì)于海嘯預(yù)警系統(tǒng)來(lái)說(shuō)很重要，因?yàn)樵陬A(yù)警過(guò)程中，不僅僅需要知道震源所在，而且需要了解地震波的路徑”。
5. Meanwhile, in North America, the EarthScope project is establishing a continent-wide network of GPS locators, seismographs, and other instruments to study what's happening below the crust.
5、與此同時(shí)，在北美開(kāi)展的“地球透鏡”計(jì)劃正在建立一個(gè)包括全球定位系統(tǒng)定位儀、地震儀和其他儀器所組成的洲際范圍的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，以研究地殼下面的活動(dòng)情況。
6. The network, which will cover the United States and reach into Canada and Mexico, is beginning to track the interaction of the two great crustal plates that respectively carry the Pacific Ocean and the continent. Its prime feature is an observatory in Parkfield, Calif., which has placed instruments nearly two miles deep into the Earth right up against the San Andreas fault to record every creep, rattle, and grind. The goal is "to get into the heart of this earthquake machine" and test scientists' speculations as to how it works, says William Ellsworth, a geologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.
6、該網(wǎng)絡(luò)將會(huì)覆蓋美國(guó)并延伸至加拿大和墨西哥。目前，它正在追蹤分別承載太平洋和美洲大陸的兩大地殼板塊之間的相互作用情況。其顯著特色是設(shè)在加州帕克菲爾德市的一個(gè)觀測(cè)站，它在圣安德列亞斯斷層的正上方距地表近兩英里處，安裝了各種儀器，用來(lái)記錄這里的每一次地殼移動(dòng)、撞擊和摩擦情況。加州曼羅帕克美國(guó)地質(zhì)勘探局的一位地質(zhì)學(xué)家威廉·埃爾斯沃斯表示，這樣做的目的是為了“深入這部地震機(jī)器的中心地帶”，并檢驗(yàn)科學(xué)家們關(guān)于其活動(dòng)情況的各種推測(cè)。
7. Networks of satellites already on orbit or soon to be launched are beginning to provide detailed observations of the workings of the atmosphere, ocean, and continental crust over the entire planet. These data are shared globally through an unprecedented cooperation among 58 nations called the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
7、由已經(jīng)進(jìn)入軌道或是即將發(fā)射的衛(wèi)星所形成的網(wǎng)絡(luò)已開(kāi)始提供有關(guān)整個(gè)地球的大氣、海洋和陸殼運(yùn)動(dòng)情況的詳細(xì)觀測(cè)資料。這些數(shù)據(jù)資料通過(guò)由58個(gè)國(guó)家參與、名為“全球?qū)Φ赜^測(cè)系統(tǒng)”的空前合作實(shí)現(xiàn)全球共享。
8. Orcutt noted that it will take high-volume high-speed communications to make the most of such sharing. Such a system, now under development, will shunt data a thousand times faster than current "high speed" broadband Internet links. Orcutt added that a strong commercial incentive exists to develop this system. It would allow movie studios, for example, to transmit a digital motion picture directly to theaters, where it could be shown in real time.
8、奧克特指出，要最大限度地利用這種共享，需要依靠大容量、高速度的通訊系統(tǒng)。正處于開(kāi)發(fā)階段的這一系統(tǒng)將會(huì)以比現(xiàn)在的“高速”寬帶因特網(wǎng)連接快1000倍的速度傳送數(shù)據(jù)。奧克特還補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，開(kāi)發(fā)這個(gè)系統(tǒng)存在巨大的商業(yè)動(dòng)機(jī)。例如，它將使電影制片廠直接將數(shù)字電影傳輸?shù)诫娪霸翰?shí)現(xiàn)實(shí)時(shí)放映。
