The mysterious world of underwater caves | Jill Heinerth

譯者: Ann Chen 審譯者: Iswan Dickinson

I'm an underwater explorer,

我是水下探險員

more specifically a cave diver.

更具體地說是洞穴潛水員

I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a little kid,

當我還是小孩，我原本想成為太空人

but growing up in Canada as a young girl, that wasn't really available to me.

以一個在加拿大成長的年輕女孩 這實在遙不可及

But as it turns out, we know a lot more about space

其實，我們了解外太空

than we do about the underground waterways coursing through our planet,

比了解流經我們星球的 地底下水道還要多

the very lifeblood of Mother Earth.

而這正是地球的命脈

So I decided to do something that was even more remarkable.

所以我決定做一些更卓越的事情

Instead of exploring outer space,

沒去外太空探險

I wanted to explore the wonders of inner space.

我反而去探索奇妙的地表深處

Now, a lot of people will tell you

現在許多人會告訴你

that cave diving is perhaps one of the most dangerous endeavors.

洞穴潛水可能是最危險的冒險之一

I mean, imagine yourself here in this room,

我是說想像你自己 在現在這個房間裡

if you were suddenly plunged into blackness,

如果你突然間陷入黑暗中

with your only job to find the exit,

你所能做的就是找到出口

sometimes swimming through these large spaces,

有時要游過這些大空間

and at other times crawling beneath the seats,

又有時得爬過座位底下

following a thin guideline,

沿著一條指示細繩

just waiting for the life support to provide your very next breath.

等著維生裝備來供應你下一口氣

Well, that's my workplace.

這就是我的工作場所

But what I want to teach you today

今天我要告訴你的就是

is that our world is not one big solid rock.

我們的世界不是一個大的實心岩石

It's a whole lot more like a sponge.

它比較像一個海綿

I can swim through a lot of the pores in our earth's sponge,

我可以在這個地球大海綿的孔隙中暢游

but where I can't,

在我無法去的地方

other life-forms and other materials can make that journey without me.

有其他的生物及物質可到達那裡

And my voice is the one that's going to teach you

而我將會教導你認識

about the inside of Mother Earth.

有關地球內部

There was no guidebook available to me

當我決定成為南極冰山的首位洞穴 潛水員時，並沒有可供我參考的手冊

when I decided to be the first person to cave dive inside Antarctic icebergs.

In 2000, this was the largest moving object on the planet.

在 2000 年，這冰山是 世界最大的移動物體

It calved off the Ross Ice Shelf,

它是從 “羅斯冰架” 崩解出來的

and we went down there to explore ice edge ecology

我們就是在它底下探索冰緣生態

and search for life-forms beneath the ice.

以及搜尋在冰下的生物

We use a technology called rebreathers.

我們用一種叫「再生式氧氣系統」的技術

It's an awful lot like the same technology that is used for space walks.

這和使用在太空漫步的技術幾乎相同

This technology enables us to go deeper

這技術讓我們可以潛入

than we could've imagined even 10 years ago.

比十年前能想像的更深處

We use exotic gases,

我們使用新型的氣體

and we can make missions even up to 20 hours long underwater.

讓我們可以在水底長達 20 小時執行任務

I work with biologists.

我和生物學家一起工作

It turns out that caves are repositories of amazing life-forms,

我們發現這些洞穴是珍奇生物的寶庫

species that we never knew existed before.

有我們以前不知道存在的物種

Many of these life-forms live in unusual ways.

這裡的許多生物以特別的方式生存

They have no pigment and no eyes in many cases,

牠們很多是沒有色素及沒有眼睛

and these animals are also extremely long-lived.

而且這些動物也非常長壽

In fact, animals swimming in these caves today

事實上，現在在這些洞穴裡游動的動物

are identical in the fossil record

和恐龍滅絕之前 這些動物所留下的化石相同

that predates the extinction of the dinosaurs.

So imagine that: these are like little swimming dinosaurs.

所以想像一下：這些就像在游泳的小恐龍

What can they teach us about evolution and survival?

在演化和生存方面， 它們能教我們什麼呢？

When we look at an animal like this remipede swimming in the jar,

我們看這個在罐裡游的槳足類動物

he has giant fangs with venom.

牠具有劇毒的大毒牙

He can actually attack something 40 times his size and kill it.

可以攻擊並殺死比牠大 40 倍的生物

If he were the size of a cat,

如果牠像貓那麼大

he'd be the most dangerous thing on our planet.

牠將是地球上最危險的生物

And these animals live in remarkably beautiful places,

而這些動物生活在這些極為美麗的地方

and in some cases, caves like this, that are very young,

有些洞穴 ─像這個─ 非常年輕

yet the animals are ancient.

但存在這古老的動物

How did they get there?

牠們是怎麼來到那裡的？

I also work with physicists,

我也和自然科學家一起工作

and they're interested oftentimes in global climate change.

他們通常對全球氣候的改變有興趣

They can take rocks within the caves,

他們從洞穴中的岩石取樣

and they can slice them and look at the layers within with rocks,

然後將它們切成薄片 觀察岩石裡的分層

much like the rings of a tree,

非常像樹的年輪

and they can count back in history

他們可從歷史回溯

and learn about the climate on our planet at very different times.

而得知地球在不同時期的氣候

The red that you see in this photograph

從這張圖片你看到的紅色部份

is actually dust from the Sahara Desert.

實際上是來自撒哈拉沙漠的沙塵

So it's been picked up by wind, blown across the Atlantic Ocean.

它曾隨風揚起並飄過大西洋

It's rained down in this case on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas.

在巴哈馬的阿巴科島隨雨落下

It soaks in through the ground

滲入地面

and deposits itself in the rocks within these caves.

然後沉積在這些洞穴的岩石裡

And when we look back in the layers of these rocks, we can find times

我們根據這些岩石的分層來回頭看

when the climate was very, very dry on earth,

發現當時的地球氣候非常非常地乾燥

and we can go back many hundreds of thousands of years.

而且我們能回溯到幾十萬年以前

Paleoclimatologists are also interested

古氣候學家也對於

in where the sea level stands were at other times on earth.

地球在不同時期海平面的位置有興趣

Here in Bermuda, my team and I embarked

在百慕達，我和我的隊友從事

on the deepest manned dives ever conducted in the region,

這區域有史以來最深的潛水

and we were looking for places

我們在尋找

where the sea level used to lap up against the shoreline,

過去鄰近海岸線的海平面位置

many hundreds of feet below current levels.

就在現在海平面以下數百呎的地方

I also get to work with paleontologists and archaeologists.

我也會與古生物學家 及考古學家一起工作

In places like Mexico, in the Bahamas, and even in Cuba,

像在墨西哥、巴哈馬，甚至古巴

we're looking at cultural remains and also human remains in caves,

我們查看了洞穴裡文化及人類的遺跡

and they tell us a lot

讓我們知道許多

about some of the earliest inhabitants of these regions.

有關這些區域最早的居民

But my very favorite project of all was over 15 years ago,

但其中我最喜愛的研究計畫 是十五多年前

when I was a part of the team that made the very first

當時我是成員之一 這個團隊是在製作

accurate, three-dimensional map of a subterranean surface.

最早的精確 3D 立體地表下地圖

This device that I'm driving through the cave

這個我駕駛通過洞穴的儀器

was actually creating a three-dimensional model as we drove it.

實際上它於我們駕駛時 就邊畫一個 3D 立體模型

We also used ultra low frequency radio

我們也利用超低頻無線電

to broadcast back to the surface our exact position within the cave.

向在地面的人回報我們 在洞穴裡確切的位置

So I swam under houses and businesses and bowling alleys and golf courses,

所以我游過了民宅、商家、 保齡球道及高爾夫球場

and even under a Sonny's BBQ Restaurant,

甚至 Sonny 燒烤店的下面

Pretty remarkable, and what that taught me

很了不起吧！這一切給我的啟示

was that everything we do on the surface of our earth

是我們加諸地球表面的任何東西

will be returned to us to drink.

都會回歸給我們飲用

Our water planet is not just rivers, lakes and oceans,

我們這充滿水的星球不只是 河流、湖泊及海洋而已

but it's this vast network of groundwater that knits us all together.

而是廣大的地下水網絡 將我們緊密地結合在一起

It's a shared resource from which we all drink.

它是一個共享資源 我們都飲用它

And when we can understand our human connections with our groundwater

當我們能了解人類與 這個星球的地下水

and all of our water resources on this planet,

和所有水資源的關連性

then we'll be working on the problem

那麼我們將努力解決這個問題

that's probably the most important issue of this century.

而且這可能是本世紀最重要的議題

So I never got to be that astronaut that I always wanted to be,

所以我沒有成為我一直想要當的太空人

but this mapping device, designed by Dr. Bill Stone, will be.

但是這個由比爾史東博士 設計的繪圖裝置，會！

It's actually morphed.

事實上，它被修改過

It's now a self-swimming autonomous robot,

它現在是一個會 自己游泳的自動化機器人

artificially intelligent,

具有人工智慧

and its ultimate goal is to go to Jupiter's moon Europa

它的終極目標是到木星的衛星 ─ Europa / 歐羅巴

and explore oceans beneath the frozen surface of that body.

探索該處冰涷地表下的海洋

And that's pretty amazing.

這實在是非常了不起！

(Applause)

（鼓掌）