由火山巖組成的“筏子”可能是大堡礁的救星

由火山巖組成的“筏子”可能是大堡礁的救星

It’s hard to think about the Great Barrier Reef without getting a certain sinking feeling. Recent years have not been kind to the world’s most spectacular and vital reef system.

一想到大堡礁，你就會有一種下沉的感覺。近年來，這個世界上最壯觀、最重要的珊瑚礁系統(tǒng)受到的待遇并不好。

The pumice 'raft' as seen by NASA's Earth Observatory. (Photo: NASA Earth Observatory)

It has suffered unprecedented coral bleaching events, cyclones, heating waters, acidification and countless other calamities climate change has thrown its way. As a result, more than half of its corals have died in recent years.

它遭受了前所未有的珊瑚白化事件、颶風、海水升溫、酸化以及氣候變化帶來的無數(shù)其他災難。因此，近年來，超過一半的珊瑚已經(jīng)死亡。

But hope, for the Great Barrier Reef, may actually float. In fact, an unlikely delegation is on its way to give it a hand, dispatched from an even unlikelier source — a volcano.

但對大堡礁來說，漂浮起來可能真的有希望。事實上，一個不太可能的代表團正在向它伸出援手，它是從一個更不可能的源頭——一座火山——派出的。

A “raft,” spotted by the NASA Earth Observatory earlier this month, was likely spit out by an undersea volcano near the island of Tonga. It’s roughly the size of Manhattan. But most importantly, it’s teeming with life. And, if it continues on its course toward northeastern Australia, those organisms reinvigorate the reef’s ailing corals.

本月早些時候，美國宇航局地球觀測站發(fā)現(xiàn)了一艘“筏子”，可能是湯加島附近的一座海底火山噴出的。大概有曼哈頓那么大。但最重要的是，它充滿了生命。而且，如果它繼續(xù)向澳大利亞東北部移動，這些生物就會使珊瑚礁中患病的珊瑚重新煥發(fā)生機。

And how, you might ask, does stone sail the high seas? It helps if you think of pumice as a kind of mineralogical Swiss cheese.

你可能會問，斯通是如何在公海上航行的?如果你認為浮石是一種礦物瑞士奶酪，這是有幫助的。

“One of the more subtle and rarely observed displays is the pumice raft," NASA notes in a release. “Many of the world's volcanoes are shrouded by the waters of the oceans. When they erupt, they can discolor the ocean surface with gases and debris. They also can spew masses of lava that are lighter than water. Such pumice rocks are full of holes and cavities, and they easily float."

美國國家航空航天局在一份新聞稿中指出:“浮石筏是一種比較微妙且很少被觀察到的現(xiàn)象。”“世界上的許多火山都被海水所覆蓋。當它們噴發(fā)時，它們可以用氣體和碎片使海洋表面變色。它們還能噴出比水還輕的大量熔巖。這樣的浮石到處都是洞，很容易浮起來。”

Those nooks and crannies also happen to make ideal homes for marine creatures.

這些角落和縫隙恰好也是海洋生物理想的家園。

“Pumice rafts can drift for weeks to years, slowly dispersing into the ocean currents,” volcanologist Erik Klemetti of Denison University explains in the NASA release. “These chunks of pumice end up making excellent, drifting homes for sea organisms, helping them spread.”

丹尼森大學的火山學家埃里克·克萊邁蒂在美國宇航局的新聞稿中解釋說:“浮石筏可以漂流數(shù)周甚至數(shù)年，慢慢地分散到洋流中。”“這些浮石最終成為海洋生物絕佳的漂流家園，幫助它們傳播。”

And if that pumice raft should alight in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, those organisms could disembark and even colonize the coral system.

如果浮石筏在大堡礁附近著陸，這些生物就會下船，甚至在珊瑚系統(tǒng)中定居。

'It was quite eerie, actually'

“實際上，這非?？膳?。”

While NASA first detected the underwater outburst, Australian sailors actually had the surreal experience of traveling through it. In an interview with CNN, they described sailing through an endless stretch of volcanic rocks "made up of pumice stones from marble to basketball size such that water was not visible."

當美國宇航局第一次探測到水下爆發(fā)時，澳大利亞水手們實際上有了穿越它的超現(xiàn)實體驗。在接受美國有線電視新聞網(wǎng)(CNN)采訪時，他們描述了航行在一望無際的火山巖中，“這些火山巖由浮石組成，從大理石到籃球大小，水都看不見。”

"It was quite eerie, actually," Larissa Hoult noted “The whole ocean was matte — we couldn't see the water reflection of the moon."

拉麗莎·霍爾特說:“實際上，這非?？膳?。整個海洋都是啞光的，我們看不到月亮在水中的倒影。”

And it’s likely they only beheld a fraction of the formation, with most of its heft concealed beneath the surface.

很可能他們只看到了一小部分，大部分重量都隱藏在水下。

That, too, is where countless passengers are likely housed, and — if ocean currents and winds are just right — could eventually disembark in a certain port in northeastern Australia.

這也是可能容納無數(shù)乘客的地方，如果洋流和風合適的話，最終可能會在澳大利亞東北部的某個港口下飛機。

That could take between seven and 12 months, Scott Bryan, a professor at Queensland University of Technology, tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. By then, he suggests, it will be “covered in a whole range of organisms of algae and barnacles and corals and crabs and snails and worms.”

昆士蘭科技大學教授斯科特·布萊恩告訴澳大利亞廣播公司，這可能需要7到12個月的時間。他認為，到那時，它將“被藻類、藤壺、珊瑚、螃蟹、蝸牛和蠕蟲等各種生物覆蓋”。