TED：污染正在改变海洋的化学成分 - 海洋酸化化学反应

风亥 · 发表于海洋科普 2024-6-20 21:53:40

TED英语演讲课

给心灵放个假吧

当我们不断将二氧化碳泵入大气层时，更多的二氧化碳溶解在海洋中，导致水的化学变化剧烈。 Triona McGrath研究这个过程，称为海洋酸化。

它是如何改变海洋的化学成分的呢？

Do you ever think about how important the oceans are in our daily lives?

你有没有想过海洋在我们日常生活中有多重要？

The oceans cover two-thirds of our planet.

海洋覆盖了地球的三分之二。

They provide half the oxygen we breathe.

它们提供了我们呼吸的一半氧气。

They moderate our climate.

它们缓和了我们的气候。

And they provide jobs and medicine and food including 20 percent of protein to feed the entire world population.

他们还提供工作、医药和食品，其中包括20%的蛋白质，以满足全世界人口的需要。

People used to think that the oceans were so vast that they wouldnt be affected by human activities.

人们过去认为海洋如此广阔，不会受到人类活动的影响。

Well today Im going to tell you about a serious reality that is changing our oceans called ocean acidification,

今天我要告诉你们一个严重的现实正在改变我们的海洋叫做海洋酸化，

or the evil twin of climate change.

或者是气候变化的双生子。

Did you know that the oceans have absorbed 25 percent of all of the carbon dioxide that we have emitted to the atmosphere?

你知道海洋吸收了我们排放到大气中的二氧化碳的25%吗？

Now this is just another great service provided by the oceans since carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases thats causing climate change.

现在，这只是海洋提供的另一个很好的服务，因为二氧化碳是导致气候变化的温室气体之一。

But as we keep pumping more and more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere more is dissolving into the oceans.

但是，随着我们不断向大气中排放越来越多的二氧化碳，更多的二氧化碳正在溶解到海洋中。

And this is whats changing our ocean chemistry.

这就是改变我们海洋化学成分的原因。

When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater,

当二氧化碳溶解在海水中时，

it undergoes a number of chemical reactions.

它经历了许多化学反应。

Now lucky for you,

现在你很幸运，

I dont have time to get into the details of the chemistry for today.

我今天没有时间谈化学的细节。

But Ill tell you as more carbon dioxide enters the ocean,

但随着更多的二氧化碳进入海洋我会告诉你，

the seawater pH goes down.

海水pH值下降。

And this basically means that there is an increase in ocean acidity.

这基本上意味着海洋酸度的增加。

And this whole process is called ocean acidification.

整个过程叫做海洋酸化。

And its happening alongside climate change.

同时气候变化也在发生。

Scientists have been monitoring ocean acidification for over two decades.

20多年来，科学家一直在监测海洋酸化。

This figure is an important time series in Hawaii,

这个数字在夏威夷是一个重要的时间序列，

and the top line shows steadily increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide,

上线显示二氧化碳浓度稳步上升，

or CO2 gas,

或者二氧化碳气体，

in the atmosphere.

在大气中。

And this is directly as a result of human activities.

这是人类活动的直接结果。

The line underneath shows the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the surface of the ocean which you can see is increasing at the same rate as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since measurements began.

下面的线显示了溶解在海洋表面的二氧化碳浓度的增加，你可以看到，自从测量开始以来，二氧化碳在大气中的增长速度和二氧化碳在海洋增速一样快。

The line on the bottom shows then shows the change in chemistry.

底部的线显示了化学成分的变化。

As more carbon dioxide has entered the ocean,

随着更多的二氧化碳进入海洋，

the seawater pH has gone down,

海水pH值下降了，

which basically means there has been an increase in ocean acidity.

这基本上意味着海洋酸度增加了。

Now in Ireland,

现在爱尔兰，

scientists are also monitoring ocean acidification -- scientists at the Marine Institute and NUI Galway.

科学家们也在监测海洋酸化-海洋研究所和NUI Galway的科学家。

And we, too,

我们也是

are seeing acidification at the same rate as these main ocean time-series sites around the world.

酸化的速度和世界上这些主要的海洋时间序列站点是一样的。

So its happening right at our doorstep.

就在我们家门口发生的。

Now Id like to give you an example of just how we collect our data to monitor a changing ocean.

现在，我想给大家举一个例子，说明我们是如何收集数据来监测海洋变化的。

Firstly we collect a lot of our samples in the middle of winter.

首先，我们在冬天收集了大量的样本。

So as you can imagine,

所以正如你所能想象的，

in the North Atlantic we get hit with some seriously stormy conditions -- so not for any of you who get a little motion sickness,

在北大西洋，我们会受到一些严重的暴风雨天气的袭击-所以对于那些有轻微晕车的人来说，

but we are collecting some very valuable data.

但我们正在收集一些非常有价值的数据。

So we lower this instrument over the side of the ship,

所以我们把这个仪器放在船上，

and there are sensors that are mounted on the bottom that can tell us information about the surrounding water,

还有安装在底部的传感器可以告诉我们周围水的信息，

such as temperature or dissolved oxygen.

如温度或溶解氧。

And then we can collect our seawater samples in these large bottles.

然后我们可以在这些大瓶子里收集海水样本。

So we start at the bottom,

所以我们从底部开始，

which can be over four kilometers deep just off our continental shelf,

离我们的大陆有四公里深，

and we take samples at regular intervals right up to the surface.

我们每隔一段时间就采集到地表的样本。

We take the seawater back on the deck,

我们把海水带回甲板，

and then we can either analyze them on the ship or back in the laboratory for the different chemicals parameters.

然后我们要么在船上分析它们，要么在实验室里对不同的化学参数进行分析。

But why should we care?

但我们为什么要在乎呢？

How is ocean acidification going to affect all of us?

海洋酸化将如何影响我们所有人？

Well, here are the worrying facts.

下面是令人担忧的事实。

There has already been an increase in ocean acidity of 26 percent since pre-industrial times,

自前工业时代以来，海洋酸度已经上升了26%，

which is directly due to human activities.

这是人类活动的直接结果。

Unless we can start slowing down our carbon dioxide emissions,

除非我们能开始减缓二氧化碳的排放，

were expecting an increase in ocean acidity of 170 percent by the end of this century.

我们预计到本世纪末，海洋酸度将增加170%。

I mean this is within our childrens lifetime.

我是说这是在我们孩子的有生之年。

This rate of acidification is 10 times faster than any acidification in our oceans for over 55 million years.

这种酸化速度是我们海洋5 500多万年来任何酸化速度的10倍。

So our marine life have never,

所以我们的海洋生物从来没有，

ever experienced such a fast rate of change before.

以前从未经历过如此快的变化。

So we literally could not know how theyre going to cope.

所以我们根本不知道他们将如何应对。

Now there was a natural acidification event millions of years ago,

数百万年前发生了一次自然酸化事件，

which was much slower than what were seeing today.

比我们今天看到的要慢得多。

And this coincided with a mass extinction of many marine species.

与此同时，许多海洋物种也在大规模灭绝。

So is that what were headed for?

这就是我们要去的方向吗？

Well, maybe.

也许吧。

Studies are showing some species are actually doing quite well but many are showing a negative response.

研究表明，一些物种实际上做得很好，但许多物种表现出了负面反应。

One of the big concerns is as ocean acidity increases,

其中一个大问题是随着海洋酸度的增加，

the concentration of carbonate ions in seawater decrease.

海水中碳酸盐离子浓度降低。

Now these ions are basically the building blocks for many marine species to make their shells,

现在这些离子基本上是许多海洋物种制造壳的基本材料，

for example crabs or mussels, oysters.

例如螃蟹或贻贝牡蛎。

Another example are corals.

另一个例子是珊瑚。

They also need these carbonate ions in seawater to make their coral structure in order to build coral reefs.

他们还需要海水中的碳酸盐离子来建造珊瑚礁。

As ocean acidity increases and the concentration of carbonate ions decrease,

随着海洋酸度的增加和碳酸盐离子浓度的降低，

these species first find it more difficult to make their shells.

这些物种首先发现更难制造它们的外壳。

And at even even lower levels,

在更低的层次，

they can actually begin to dissolve.

它们实际上可以开始溶解。

This here is a pteropod,

这是翼足动物，

its called a sea butterfly.

它叫海蝶。

And its an important food source in the ocean for many species,

对许多物种来说，它是海洋中重要的食物来源，

from krill to salmon right up to whales.

从磷虾到鲑鱼，再到鲸鱼。

The shell of the pteropod was placed into seawater at a pH that were expecting by the end of this century.

翼足动物的外壳被放置在海水中，pH值是我们预计的本世纪末。

After only 45 days at this very realistic pH,

在这个非常现实的pH值下仅仅45天后，

you can see the shell has almost completely dissolved.

你可以看到壳几乎完全溶解了。

So ocean acidification could affect right up through the food chain -- and right onto our dinner plates.

所以海洋酸化会影响整个食物链-就在我们的餐盘上。

I mean who here likes shellfish?

我是说这里谁喜欢贝类？

Or salmon?

还是鲑鱼？

Or many other fish species whose food source in the ocean could be affected?

或者其他许多鱼类的食物来源可能会受到影响？

These are cold-water corals.

这些是冷水珊瑚。

And did you know we actually have cold-water corals in Irish waters,

你知道我们在爱尔兰水域有冷水珊瑚吗，

just off our continental shelf?

刚离开我们的大陆架？

And they support rich biodiversity,

它们支持丰富的生物多样性，

including some very important fisheries.

包括一些非常重要的渔业。

Its projected that by the end of this century,

预计到本世纪末，

70 percent of all known cold-water corals in the entire ocean will be surrounded by seawater that is dissolving their coral structure.

整个海洋中所有已知冷水珊瑚的70%将被溶解其珊瑚结构的海水所包围。

The last example I have are these healthy tropical corals.

最后一个例子是这些健康的热带珊瑚。

They were placed in seawater at a pH were expecting by the year 2100.

他们被安置在海水中的pH值，我们预计到2100年。

After six months,

六个月后，

the coral has almost completely dissolved.

珊瑚几乎完全溶解了。

Now coral reefs support 25 percent of all marine life in the entire ocean.

现在，珊瑚礁支撑着整个海洋中所有海洋生物的25%。

All marine life.

所有海洋生物。

So you can see: ocean acidification is a global threat.

所以你可以看到：海洋酸化是一个全球性的威胁。

I have an eight-month-old baby boy.

我有个八个月大的男婴。

Unless we start now to slow this down,

除非我们现在就开始慢慢来，

I dread to think what our oceans will look like when hes a grown man.

我害怕想一想，当他长大后，我们的海洋会是什么样子。

We will see acidification.

我们将看到酸化。

We have already put too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

我们已经把太多的二氧化碳排放到大气中了。

But we can slow this down.

但我们可以放慢速度。

We can prevent the worst-case scenario.

我们可以防止最坏的情况发生。

The only way of doing that is by reducing our carbon dioxide emissions.

唯一的办法是减少我们的二氧化碳排放量。

This is important for both you and I, for industry, for governments.

这对你和我都很重要，对工业和政府都很重要。

We need to work together,

我们需要一起工作，

slow down global warming slow down ocean acidification and help to maintain a healthy ocean and a healthy planet for our generation and for generations to come.

减缓全球变暖，减缓海洋酸化，帮助为我们这一代人和子孙后代维护一个健康的海洋和一个健康的星球。

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TED：污染正在改变海洋的化学成分 - 海洋酸化化学反应

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