VOA标准英语2008年-Australian Climate Scientists Enlist Elephant S

Australian scientists are getting help from elephant seals to build a greater understanding of climate change. The marine¹ mammals carry sensors² that transmit data about ocean currents and sea ice. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.
　
Elephant seals

Scientists have long thought that the vast areas of sea ice in Antarctica could help them unlock some of the secrets of climate change.

The ice reflects sunlight back into space. With global temperatures rising, there are concerns that polar ice is shrinking, and, as it does, additional energy is absorbed by the earth, causing more warming.

For the first time, researchers have been able to gather crucial information from the heart of this icy wilderness³ thanks to help from an unlikely source - 85 elephant seals.

The seals were fitted with special satellite sensors that sent back data from Antarctica. The devices are the size of a mobile phone and eventually fall off when the animals shed their fur in summer.

Between 2004 and 2005, the seals each swam up to 65 kilometers a day, supplying scientists with thousands of pieces of information about the sea ice that ocean buoys⁴ and ships have been unable to provide.

Steve Rintoul, from the Australian government's Commonwealth⁵ Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) says the seals have been invaluable⁶.

"The polar regions are barometers⁷ of change for the climate of the earth as a whole. The 19 million square kilometers of sea ice that form each winter had been a blind spot so far and the seals help us fill in that part of the story," Rintoul said.

The elephant seals, which can dive to depths of 15-hundred meters, have provided a 30-fold increase in data from parts of the Southern Ocean. The research also involved teams from the United States, Great Britain and France.

The antennas⁸ placed on the animals' heads detail shifts in sea currents and record changes in water temperature as well as salinity⁹. The data helps chart the effects of climate change under the Antarctic ice.

Changes in salinity are used to calculate how much sea ice is formed during the winter months.

Mark Hindell, a seal biologist at the University of Tasmania, says this unusual research method does not harm the seals.

"Animals that carry tags are just as good at foraging¹⁰, just as good at catching¹¹ food as animals without them," Hindell said. "Longer term, they have just the same sort of survival rates as animals that don't carry them. So, there's no effect on the seals and the few seals that are out there collecting this data are doing an enormous service, if you like, to broader science and also to their own species."

Scientists have not been able to draw firm conclusions about changes from the data the seals collected, because there is nothing to compare it with. But the information will provide a basis for future studies.

Researchers now plan to use other seal species in different parts of the Arctic and Antarctic in the quest for a greater understanding of a changing climate.

The polar regions play an important role in the Earth's climate system. Scientists have said they are changing more rapidly than any other part of the planet.

 

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

3 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

5 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

6 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

7 barometers   

气压计，晴雨表( barometer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fixed cistern barometers are used as a standard for checking aneroid barometers. 固定槽式气压计可以作为标准件去检验无液气压计。
• Fixed cistern barometers are used as a standard for checking. 固定槽式气压计可以作为标准件去检验。

8 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

9 salinity   

n.盐分；咸度；盐浓度；咸性

参考例句：

• In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中，盐度为千分之二。
• In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中，地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。

10 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。