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3 ^. }1 W. R: P A tiny sensor that measures a shark’s metabolism seems remarkable—but at heart it is no more so than a modern phone. “The accelerometer I use to measure great white shark activity,” says Dr Semmens, “is the same one you use to turn your smartphone into a lightsabre.” Such tiny tags, which can also measure the temperature and pressure of the surrounding water, are a big step up from the bulky（句型）tags of yesteryear, which would provide a single acoustic frequency that allowed researchers to follow the fish if they were close enough. And they are improving rapidly. “People are talking about tags which sample blood from animals underwater,” says Dr Semmens. 测量鲨鱼新陈代谢的微型传感器看似非同寻常——但说到底它并不比一台现代手机更厉害。“我用来衡量大白鲨活动的加速度计和你用来把智能手机变成光剑的那个是一样的。”塞门斯说。这种微小的标签也可以测量周围水体的温度和压力，相对于过去庞大的标签来说是一大进步——过去的那种会产生单一声频，当鱼群足够近时，研究人员可以跟踪它们。标签进步的速度也很快。塞门斯说：“人们现在谈论的是为水下动物采血的标签。” - ^+ [6 [" ]% I) N& |
N-VAR Your metabolism is the way that chemical processes in your body cause food to be used in an efficient way, for example to make new cells and to give you energy. ( ?0 q- j Q5 N' F. E- w+ N5 v
N an instrument for measuring acceleration, esp of an aircraft or rocket N-COUNT If you refer to the acoustics of a space, you are referring to the structural features which determine how well you can hear music or speech in it.The same technology can be used for environmental monitoring as well as pure science. Dr Semmens has tagged several endangered Maugean skate（词汇） in Tasmania’s Macquarie harbour with somewhat larger sensors—they weigh 60 grams, instead of 10—that measure heart rate and the dissolved oxygen content of the water. Parts of the harbour are becoming anoxic（词汇）—deprived of oxygen—because of large-scale near-shore salmon farming. The data from the skate show how much of this is going on, and how much harm it is doing. That makes it easier to argue for changes that boost conservation efforts.
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同样的技术也可以用于环境监测以及纯科学。塞门斯在塔斯马尼亚的麦考瑞港为几条濒危的塔斯马尼亚谷鳐装上了大一些的传感器——它们重60克，而不是10克——可测量心率和水中的溶解氧含量。由于大规模的近岸鲑鱼养殖，这个海港的部分区域已变得缺氧。鳐鱼的数据显示了情况有多严重以及正在造成多大的损害。这使得人们更有理据来提倡变革，促进环保。
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One of the biggest benefits of better measured seas is the possibility of getting to grips with（词汇）dramatic weather events. The top 3 metres of the oceans hold more heat energy than the entire atmosphere. How much of that energy escapes into the air, and when and where it does so, drives the strength and frequency of storm systems. And there is ever more energy to do that driving. The average surface temperature of the seas has risen by about 0.9°C (1.6°F) in the past hundred years, according to America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration（词汇）. This means that, since the 1980s, about a billion times the heat energy of the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been added to the ocean—roughly an atomic explosion every few seconds.更好地测量海洋的最大好处之一是可能掌控重大的天气事件。海面下三米内的海水中储存的热量比整个大气都要多。这些能量中有多少逃逸到空气中，以及在何时何地发生，都影响着风暴系统的强度和频率。而且产生这种影响的能量还越来越多。根据美国国家海洋和大气管理局的数据，过去一百年中，平均海面温度上升了约0.9°C（1.6°F）。这意味着，自上世纪80年代以来，海洋中增加的热能相当于在广岛和长崎投下的原子弹的十亿倍——差不多每隔几秒就发生一次核爆。
) V$ {! ]5 l8 y) F# \ Yet even as the amount of energy the oceans hold has risen, the details of its transfer to the atmosphere remain unknown for large swathes of the ocean. This is particularly important when it comes to understanding something like the South Asian monsoon（词汇）. The rains are driven by the huge size of the Bay of Bengal and the amount of fresh water that pours into it from the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems. Because this buoyant fresh water cannot easily mix with the denser salty water below it, the surface gets very warm indeed, driving prodigious amounts of evaporation. Better understanding these processes would improve monsoon forecasts—and could help predict cyclones, too.然而，即使海洋储存的能量已经增加，大部分海洋区域向大气转移能量的细节仍然未知。这对于理解南亚季风等尤为重要。孟加拉湾的庞大面积以及从恒河和布拉马普特拉河系统注入的淡水量推动着降雨。由于轻浮的淡水不容易与下面厚重的咸水混合，水面变得非常暖和，带来了巨大的蒸发量。更好地理解这些过程可以改善季风预报，也可以帮助预测旋风。
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To this end（句型） Amala Mahadevan of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in Massachusetts, has been working with the Indian weather agencies to install a string of sensors hanging down off a buoy（词汇）in the northern end of the Bay of Bengal. 为此，马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔海洋研究所（WHOI）的阿玛拉·马哈德万（Amala Mahadevan）一直在与印度气象机构合作，在孟加拉湾北端的一个浮标上安装一串传感器。
; S/ l6 P6 [. d* W! m; P0 b A large bank of similar buoys called the Pioneer Array has been showing oceanographers（词汇）things they have not seen before in the two years it has been operating off the coast of New England. The array is part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) funded by America’s National Science Foundation. It is providing a three-dimensional picture of changes to the Gulf Stream, which is pushing as much as 100km closer to the shore than it used to. “Fishermen are catching Gulf Stream fish 100km in from the continental shelf,” says Glen Gawarkiewicz of WHOI. These data make local weather forecasting better. 过去两年间，一大批被称为“先锋阵列”的类似浮标在新英格兰沿海作业，已经向海洋学家展示了前所未见的事物。该阵列是美国国家科学基金会资助的海洋观测计划（OOI）的一部分。它提供了墨西哥湾流变化的三维图像，显示湾流离海岸的距离比过去近了多达100公里。WHOI的格伦·加瓦基维茨（Glen Gawarkiewicz）说：“渔民在大陆架靠内100公里的地方捕获了墨西哥湾流的鱼。”这些数据也改进了当地的天气预报。 * ^7 n. X m( T+ \+ h2 O& e
Three other lines of buoys and floats have recently been installed across the Atlantic in order to understand the transfer of deep water from the North Atlantic southwards, a flow which is fundamental to the dynamics of all the world’s oceans, and which may falter in a warmer climate.人们最近在大西洋上安装了三条新浮标和浮子（词汇），以便了解深水从北大西洋向南转移的情况。这一洋流情况对全世界所有海洋的动态都至关重要，并且可能会随着气候转暖而衰退。 V-I If something falters, it loses power or strength in an uneven way, or no longer makes much progress.Another part of the OOI is the Cabled Array（词汇） off the coast of Oregon. Its sensors, which span one of the smallest of the world’s tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca plate, are connected by 900km of fibre-optic cable and powered by electricity cables that run out from the shore. The array is designed to gather data which will help understand the connections between the plate’s volcanic activity and the biological and oceanographic processes above it. OOI的另一部分是俄勒冈沿海的电缆阵列。它的传感器遍布世界上最小的地壳构造板块之一——胡安·德富卡板块，并通过900公里的光纤电缆连接，由来自岸边的电力电缆供电。该阵列旨在收集数据来帮助了解板块火山活动与其上方生物及海洋动态之间的关系。
; D6 k8 {* m& }% m# w) ^- J: [ A set of sensors off Japan takes a much more practical interest in plate tectonics. The Dense Oceanfloor Network System for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (DONET) consists of over 50 sea-floor observing stations, each housing pressure sensors which show whether the sea floor is rising or falling, as well as seismometers（词汇） which measure the direct movement caused by an earthquake. When the plates shift and the sea floor trembles（词汇）, they can send signals racing back to shore at the speed of light in glass, beating the slower progress of the seismic waves through the Earth’s crust（词汇）, to give people a few valuable extra seconds of warning. Better measuring of climate can save lives over decades; prompt measurement of earthquakes can save them in an instant. 日本沿海的一套传感器对板块运动的关注要有实际意义得多。地震和海啸的密集海底网络系统（DONET）由50多个海底观测站组成，每个观测站都配备了显示海底是否上升或下降的压力传感器，以及测量地震引起的直接移动的地震仪。当板块移动、海底震颤时，它们能以玻璃中光速向海岸传回信号，快过通过地壳传播地震波这一较慢的过程，为人们赢得几秒钟宝贵的警报时间。更好地测量气候可以在几十年间挽救生命；迅速测量地震救人只需要一瞬间。 5 W# ?) l$ X. A' l$ o1 ^
ADJ Tectonic means relating to the structure of the Earths surface or crust. ADJ Seismic means caused by or relating to an earthquake.
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