The ocean conveyor belt and the Gulf Stream
大洋輸送帶和墨西哥灣流。
Ocean currents have a direct influence on our lives. They determine our weather, our climate, and much more. The ocean currents and wind systems transport heat from the equator to the poles, and operate like a large engine for the global climate.
洋流對我們的生活有直接的影響。它們決定我們的天氣、我們的氣候，還有更多東西。洋流和風系將熱度從赤道傳送到兩極，並像台大型引擎為全球氣候運作。
In the oceans, there are numerous currents. The circled ocean conveyor belt is very important for our climate. This term describes a combination of currents that result in the four of the five global oceans exchanging water with each other. They form a world-wide circulation system.
海洋中，有許多水流。環行的大洋輸送帶對我們的氣候是非常重要的。此名稱描述了洋流的組合，其造成全球五大洋中的四個彼此交換水。它們形成一個遍及全球的循環系統。
The conveyor belt is also called the Thermohaline Circulation, with thermo referring to the temperature, and haline to the salt content of the water. Both determine the density of the water.
輸送帶同樣也稱作溫鹽環流，「thermo」指的是溫度，而「haline」指的是水的含鹽量。兩者都決定了水的密度。
While the masses of water may be moved in part by wind, primarily the different densities of the global oceans are responsible for that movement. Warm water has a lower density and rises, while cold water sinks. The water's density also increases with a higher salt content.
雖然大量的水也許有一部分是被風吹動，但是全球海洋不同的密度主要還是那移動的原因。溫暖的水有較低的密度並上升，而冷水下沉。水的密度同樣也隨著更高的含鹽量而上升。
At the equator, the heat from the sun is especially strong, resulting in a lot of evaporation, and there's a rise in the water salt content. That is where the Gulf Stream begins.
在赤道，來自太陽的熱度特別強烈，結果造成大量蒸發，且水的含鹽量升高。那就是墨西哥灣流起始之處。
The Gulf Stream is very important for the European climate. Its length of ten thousand kilometers makes it one of the largest and fastest ocean currents on earth, and it's very warm. At roughly two meters a second, it brings up to one hundred million cubic meters of water per second towards Europe.
墨西哥灣流對歐洲氣候非常重要。其一萬公里的長度讓它成為地球上最大且最快的洋流之一，且它非常溫暖。以一秒大概兩公尺的速度，它每秒將高達一億立方公尺的水帶往歐洲。
A constantly blowing wind, the southeast trade wind, drives warm surface water to the northwest, into the Gulf of Mexico, where it heats up to thirty degree Celsius.
一陣持續吹拂的風－－東南信風，將溫暖的表層水吹趕到西北方，進入墨西哥灣，在這裡它加溫到攝氏三十度。
The turning of the earth and the west winds then direct the Gulf Stream towards Europe, and split it up. One part flows south, another east to the Canary Current, and the third part flows north, where it releases a lot of heat into the atmosphere as the North Atlantic Current.
地球自轉及西風接著將墨西哥灣流導向歐洲，並使其分開。一部分往南流，另一部分往東到加那利洋流，第三部分往北流，在那它以北大西洋洋流的形態釋出大量熱度進入大氣層。
The water becomes colder there. Its salt content and the density rise on account of evaporation, and it drops down between Greenland, Norway and Iceland.
水在那變得較冷。其含鹽量及密度因為蒸發而上升，並在格陵蘭、挪威及冰島間下沉。
There we also find the largest waterfall on earth, the so-called Chimneys, roughly fifteen-kilometer-wide pillars with water falling up to four thousand meters, seventeen million cubic meters of water per second, or roughly fifteen times more water than it's carried by all the rivers in the world.
這裡我們也發現到地球上最大的瀑布，所謂的Chimneys(原意為煙囪)，大約十五公里寬的水柱加上水流傾洩而下長達四千公尺，每秒一千七百萬立方公尺的水，或是比世界上所有河流運載的水量多出大約十五倍。
This creates a strong maelstrom, which constantly pulls in new water, and it's the reason that the Gulf Stream moves towards Europe.
這產生了一股強而有力的大漩渦，持續拉進新的海水，而這是墨西哥灣流朝歐洲移動的原因。
Countless species use the Gulf Stream as a means of transport on their trips from the Caribbean to northern areas, but it doesn't just bring us animals, an enormous quantity of warm air also comes with it.
無數的物種利用墨西哥灣流作為它們從加勒比海移動到北區之旅的交通工具，但它不只帶給我們動物，極大量的溫暖空氣同樣也隨之而來。
In order to produce the same heats which it brings to the shores of Europe, we would need one million nuclear power plants. That's why we also call the Gulf Stream a heat pump. Without it, the temperature would be significantly colder here at least five to ten degrees. Instead of lush fields, we would have long winters and sparse, ice-covered landscapes in Europe.
為了要製造出和它帶到歐洲海岸相同的熱度，我們會需要一百萬間核能發電廠。那就是為什麼我們也將墨西哥灣流稱作熱泵。沒有它，這裡的溫度會明顯的變得更冷上至少五到十度。沒有翠綠的平原，我們在歐洲反而會有漫長的冬天和稀疏、覆滿冰雪的景觀。
In the last few years, scientists and pundits in the media have repeatedly expressed the fear that the Gulf Stream could come to a standstill due to climate change, because if the polar caps actually melt, the salt content in the water of Greenland would fall, as would its density. The North Atlantic Current would no longer be heavy enough, and so it wouldn't sink as usual. In the worst case, that would bring the Gulf Stream, our heat pump, to a stop.
在過去幾年，科學家和媒體上的名嘴一再表示墨西哥灣流可以因為氣候變遷而完全停下的恐懼，因為如果極地冰冠確實融化，格陵蘭水域中含鹽量會減少，其密度亦然。北大西洋洋流會不再夠重，所以它不會像平常一樣下沉。在最糟的情況下，那會使墨西哥灣流－－我們的熱泵，使其停止。
Some climate experts also assume that climate change could compensate for this effect. We know that it can be normal for the climate to change by looking at the development of the Earth over the last few million years. There are ice ages and warm periods. In the last ice age, a gigantic flood of melting water crippled the heat-bringing North Atlantic Current, covering the northern hemisphere in ice.
有些氣候專家同樣認為氣候變遷可以彌補這個效應。我們知道透過觀察地球在過去數百萬年的發展，氣候變化可以是正常的。有冰河期和溫暖的時期。在最後的冰河期，巨大的融雪洪流嚴重破壞了攜熱的北大西洋洋流，將北半球覆蓋在冰雪裡。
Scientists have different views on the impact the climate change will have on the global ocean conveyor belt, but one thing is clear: When the climate changes, then the complex system of ocean currents and winds, which has remain fairly stable since the last ice age, will change in ways that we don't yet understand.
科學家們對於氣候變遷將會對全球大洋輸送帶帶來的影響有不同觀點，但一件事是清楚的：當氣候變化，自上一次冰河期以來維持相當穩定的洋流和風的複雜系統，將會以我們還不明瞭的方式改變。
- 「因為、由於」- On Account Of
Its salt content and the density rise on account of evaporation, and it drops down between Greenland, Norway and Iceland.
其含鹽量及密度因為蒸發而上升，並在格陵蘭、挪威及冰島間下沉。 - 「停住、停滯」- Come To A Standstill
...scientists and pundits in the media have repeatedly expressed the fear that the Gulf Stream could come to a standstill due to climate change...
...科學家和媒體上的名嘴一再表示墨西哥灣流可以因為氣候變遷而完全停下的恐懼...
