由火山岩组成的“筏子”可能是大堡礁的救星
由火山岩组成的“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，你就会有一种下沉的感觉。近年来，这个世界上最壮观、最重要的珊瑚礁系统受到的待遇并不好。
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、飓风、海水升温、酸化以及气候变化带来的无数其他灾难。因此，近年来，超过一半的珊瑚已经死亡。
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.
但对大堡礁来说，漂浮起来可能真的有希望。事实上，一个不太可能的代表团正在向它伸出援手，它是从一个更不可能的源头——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.
本月早些时候，美国宇航局地球观测站发现了一艘“筏子”，可能是汤加岛附近的一座海底火山喷出的。大概有曼哈顿那么大。但最重要的是，它充满了生命。而且，如果它继续向澳大利亚东北部移动，这些生物就会使珊瑚礁中患病的珊瑚重新焕发生机。
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.
你可能会问，斯通是如何在公海上航行的?如果你认为浮石是一种矿物瑞士奶酪，这是有帮助的。
“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."
美国国家航空航天局在一份新闻稿中指出:“浮石筏是一种比较微妙且很少被观察到的现象。”“世界上的许多火山都被海水所覆盖。当它们喷发时，它们可以用气体和碎片使海洋表面变色。它们还能喷出比水还轻的大量熔岩。这样的浮石到处都是洞，很容易浮起来。”
Those nooks and crannies also happen to make ideal homes for marine creatures.
这些角落和缝隙恰好也是海洋生物理想的家园。
“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.”
丹尼森大学的火山学家埃里克·克莱迈蒂在美国宇航局的新闻稿中解释说:“浮石筏可以漂流数周甚至数年，慢慢地分散到洋流中。”“这些浮石最终成为海洋生物绝佳的漂流家园，帮助它们传播。”
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着陆，这些生物就会下船，甚至在珊瑚系统中定居。
'It was quite eerie, actually'
“实际上，这非常可怕。”
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."
当美国宇航局第一次探测到水下爆发时，澳大利亚水手们实际上有了穿越它的超现实体验。在接受美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)采访时，他们描述了航行在一望无际的火山岩中，“这些火山岩由浮石组成，从大理石到篮球大小，水都看不见。”
"It was quite eerie, actually," Larissa Hoult noted “The whole ocean was matte — we couldn't see the water reflection of the moon."
拉丽莎·霍尔特说:“实际上，这非常可怕。整个海洋都是哑光的，我们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.
很可能他们只看到了一小部分，大部分重量都隐藏在水下。
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.
这也是可能容纳无数乘客的地方，如果洋流和风合适的话，最终可能会在澳大利亚东北部的某个港口下飞机。
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.”
昆士兰科技大学教授斯科特·布莱恩告诉澳大利亚广播公司，这可能需要7到12个月的时间。他认为，到那时，它将“被藻类、藤壶、珊瑚、螃蟹、蜗牛和蠕虫等各种生物覆盖”。
