中国海域藻华成灾，死亡之域悄然成型

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来源Photos: Algae Blankets China Beaches; Dead Zone Brewing?
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Photos: Algae Blankets China Beaches; Dead Zone Brewing?

 中国海域藻华成灾，死亡之域悄然成型

Green Tide

绿潮 

A child plays on an algae-matted beach in the coastal city of Qingdao (map) in east China’s Shandong Province earlier this month.

本月初，中国东部沿海城市山东省青岛市，在海藻遍地的海岸边玩耍的孩童。

Local authorities and residents in the popular tourist destination have been struggling over the summer to remove a large mass of green algae that has washed ashore. As of late June, the algae bloom—or “green tide”—covered more than 170 square miles (440 square kilometers) of coasts south of Qingdao.

在消夏旅游胜地，当地政府与市民都感觉夏季漫长难熬，因为要不断清理被冲上岸的大面积绿藻。去年6月，藻华，或叫“绿潮”，覆盖了青岛南海岸170平方英里（440平方公里）。

The algae blanketing the city’s beaches belongs to a species of marine plankton known as Enteromorpha prolifera. The algae can be found in waters all around the world, and can explode in so-called macro-algal blooms if conditions are right, said Steve Morton, a marine biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

国家海洋与大气治理署的海洋生物学家史蒂夫.莫顿说， 覆盖青岛海滩的水藻属于一种叫做“浒苔”的海洋浮游生物。全世界的水域中都有水藻，条件成熟便会大规模爆发，形成所谓的藻华。

Such massive blooms require warm ocean temperatures and waters rich in the elements phosphorus and nitrogen, which are found in fertilizers and can be carried to the coasts by water runoff. While the algae isn’t toxic, big blooms can create oxygen-poor “dead zones” in the water and leave an unpleasant odor on beaches.

 形成如此大规模的藻华，需要温暖的海洋温度，而且水中要富含磷与氮气。氮气存在于氮肥中，随着水流被带入大海。虽然海藻本身并没有毒，但大面积海藻爆发会造成海水缺氧，形成“死亡之域”，海滩上也会留下难闻的气味。

Weeding the Beaches

海滩除藻 

A man clears algae by the armful from a beach in the coastal city of Lianyungang, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Qingdao, on June 22.

 6月22日，青岛以南150英里（240千米），在连云港海岸边徒手清理海藻的男子。

China has had a steady drop in air and water pollution over the past three years, thanks to stringent environmental regulations and the closure of some highly polluting, energy-intensive companies. (Related: “Chinese Air Pollution Deadliest in World, Report Says.” [2007])

过去的三年中，中国政府制定了严格的环境法规，并关闭了重污染能源消耗型工厂，中国的空气与水质污染情况得到了稳步缓解。（相关报道：“报道称，中国是世界上空气污染最严重的国家。”[2007]）

But fertilizer runoff from farms to the coasts remains a problem, NOAA’s Morton said: “With its population like it is, [China] has to feed a lot of people, so they use a lot of fertilizer.”

 但还有个严重的问题是，农田中的化肥被不断带流入大海。NOAA的莫顿说：“中国要养活众多的人口，所以农作物的化肥用量巨大。”

Algae Explosion

藻华泛滥

Workers remove large mounds of algae from Jinshatan beach on Qingdao’s Yellow Island on July 3.

7月3日，青岛黄岛金沙滩，正在奋力清理成堆海藻的工人。

China is notorious for its algae blooms. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a sailboat race was almost canceled because of an outbreak. “They had thousands of people raking the ocean to get the algae out,” NOAA’s Morton said. “It was an amazing sight.”

中国藻华泛滥早已“臭名远扬”。2008年北京夏季奥运会期间，一场帆船赛差点因为藻华而取消。“中国政府派去数千人清理海藻，” 国家海洋与大气治理署的莫顿说，“场面极其壮观。”

Macro-algal blooms are a uniquely modern problem that emerged after humans learned how to create potent artificial fertilizers in massive amounts, added Wayne Litaker, a research scientist also at NOAA.

国家海洋与大气治理署另外一位研究专家Wayne Litaker表示，藻华是一个特殊的现代问题，是人类大量使用药效强劲的人工化肥造成的。

“In the 1800s people had to use natural fertilizers such as guano,” which is the excrement of birds, bats, and seals, Litaker said. Now that we have artificial fertilizers, “a lot more goes onto the land than ever before.”

“19世纪人类只有自然化肥可以使用，例如动物粪便，”Litaker说，也就是鸟类、鼠类和海豹的排泄物。既然有了人工肥料，“比以往撒进土地里的要多很多。”

Algae Beach Blanket

像被铺上绿色地毯一般的海岸

A Chinese man walks along a Qingdao beach completely blanketed by algae on June 29.

6月29日，青岛，行走在完全被海藻覆盖的海岸上的男子。

Thick Enteromorpha algae blooms block the small amounts of sunlight that reach deeper-dwelling marine life. And when the algae die, their remains are broken down by fungi and bacteria that suck up oxygen, creating ocean dead zones, Morton explained.

莫顿解释说，厚厚的浒苔海藻潮将仅有的那么一点照进深海的阳光挡住，深海生物的世界完全黑暗。死亡后的海藻被真菌与细菌分解，吸收氧气，造成海水缺氧，形成大片的死亡之域。

An algal bloom is a feast for the microscopic decomposers, and the dead zones can persist for months as a result.

绿潮是微生物分解者的绝佳美宴，数月之内就会出现成片的死亡之域。

Algae-fighting Army

清理海藻的军人

Chinese soldiers in shorts and camouflage shirts help clear algae from a beach in Qingdao on June 26.

6月26日，穿着短裤与迷彩服的军人在青岛海滩清理海藻。

According to news reports, Chinese authorities have had to recruit thousands of people and dispatch a flotilla of more than 60 ships to combat the green tide.

据有关新闻报道，为抗击绿潮，中国政府不得不招募数千人，并派遣出60艘船的舰队。 

Algal blooms washed on shore can give off a stench of rotten eggs or worse, NOAA’s Morton said, caused by the release of methane and sulfur as the blooms decompose.

国家海洋与大气治理署的莫顿说， 绿藻被冲上岸边，随着腐烂分解，会释放甲烷与硫磺，致使海滩臭气熏天，比臭鸡蛋还臭。

Blob Born of Pollution

污染催生的“怪物”

Local villager Jin Jisong displays a mysterious, semitransparent blob on June 25 that was found in Zhudong Lake in east China’s Zhejiang Province, just south of Shanghai.

 6月25日，在上海以南的中国东部省份浙江，一位当地村民金极松（音译）发现了一个奇怪的半透明物体。

According to scientist Wei Xiangtai of the Shangyu Aquatic Product Technology Center, the slimy mass is a product of polluted water—a complex glob of anaerobic bacteria covered in structures that produce spores.

上虞水产品科技中心的科学家韦祥泰（音译）说，这个黏糊糊的东西是水质受到污染的产物——大量厌氧细菌覆盖在生产孢子的结构体上。

Creature From the Black Lagoon

黑乎乎的怪物

A close-up of the mysterious blob found in Zhudong Lake. According to the Associated Press, the blob melts in bright sunlight.

这是竹洞湖“怪物”的特写镜头。据美联社报道，该物体在阳光的照射下会融化。

Bacteria and algae aren’t the only creatures that can benefit from polluted waters: During a recent algae bloom in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, residents complained of an infestation of snails that were feeding on the algae, NOAA’s Morton said.

国家海洋与大气治理署的莫顿说， 能在污水中迅速繁殖的不只有细菌与海藻：最近在美国罗得岛纳拉干塞特湾爆发绿潮，当地居民抱怨蜗牛横行，这些蜗牛专以藻类为食。

Green Ooze

绿泥

A young man holds algae-filled water from a lake in east China’s Anhui Province on June 22. The algae species responsible for this bloom is most likely Microcystis, NOAA’s Morton said.

6月22日，中国东部省份安徽省，一位年轻男子手中捧着满是绿藻的湖水。NOAA的莫顿指出，此次绿潮的始作俑者很有可能是微胞藻类。

The Microcystis algae can be found around the world. In 2003, for example, a NASA satellite spotted a green splotch in Lake Erie that turned out to be a Microcystis bloom.

微胞藻类遍布全球。例如，在2003年，美国国家航空和宇宙航行局拍摄的伊利湖卫星照片中出现一个绿色污点，后来被证实是微胞藻绿潮爆发。

Since China’s current algal blooms are much worse than anything experienced in the U.S., it’s “very likely” they’re also visible from space, Morton said.

莫顿说，这次中国的藻华比美国以往出现过的都要严重， “很有可能”从外太空也能看到。

Algae Diver

 身陷绿藻的潜水者

A Chinese diver clears away green algae in the coastal waters off Qingdao on June 29.

6月29日，青岛海岸边，一中国潜水员在水中清理海藻。

Although this algae isn’t toxic, NOAA’s Morton recommends that swimmers stay away from the algae-infested waters if possible.

国家海洋与大气治理署的莫顿说，虽然这些海藻没有毒，但游泳的人都尽量避免靠近。

“Anytime you have a discoloration of water, your best bet is not to swim in it,” he said.

“只要看到水变了颜色，就最好不要去游泳了。”

From Bloom to Biofuel

 从绿潮到生物燃料

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband walks past an array of pipes containing algae during a visit to a clean-energy research center in the city of Langfang, south of Beijing, on March 15. Many companies worldwide are actively researching how to turn algae into biofuel.

3月15日，北京南部，廊坊市， 英国外交大臣大卫.米利班德访问一家清洁能源研究中心，走过装满海藻的管道架。现在世界很多公司都致力于研究将海藻转变为生物燃料的方法。

“A huge area of research right now is getting exactly the right [algae] species to grow under the right conditions so you can make enough lipids to make oils out of them and have a commercial product,” NOAA’s Morton said. Lipids are a broad group of molecules such as fats and waxes that don’t dissolve in water.

国家海洋与大气治理署的莫顿说“这个研究领域非常广阔，找对合适的[海藻]种类，在合适的条件下生长，从中提炼足够的类脂，从而开发出一种商业产品。”类脂是脂类分子的总称，例如动物脂肪与蜡类，它们不溶于水。

While it’s possible some of the plankton species responsible for China’s algal blooms could be harvested for biofuel, most companies use their own genetically modified species, Morton added.

莫顿还指出，虽然此次造成中国藻华泛滥的某些浮游生物种类可被用于生物燃料开发，但大部分公司都用自己的转基因藻类。

“油彩”巢湖

6月19日，绿潮遍布的巢湖上，两位渔民在划船。看上去不禁让人想起印象派绘画。
美国国家海洋和大气管理局指出，尽管绿潮爆发在世界各地均有发生，但中国尤为严重。

“在美国我们还从没遇到过如此严重的绿潮，”莫顿说，“中国的绿潮状况是最让人震惊的。任何时候要做课题，总是去中国拍照片。”

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