一艘小型无人船已启程环绕南极洲航行，可能需要数月才能返回。这艘长七米、外形酷似高视度橙色大型皮划艇的船只，预计将借助强劲的西风和太阳能，在恶劣的水域中航行约22,000公里。这段旅程的距离是悉尼到珀斯之间距离的七倍。
A small uncrewed vessel has embarked on a lap around Antarctica and may not return for months.
在航行途中，它预计将遭遇巨浪、极寒气温、狂风，甚至还可能遇到偶尔路过的好奇海豹或信天翁。
The seven-metre craft, which looks like a large kayak in hi-vis orange, is expected to travel about 22,000km through inhospitable waters, propelled by powerful westerly winds and energy from the sun. The journey is seven times the distance between Sydney and Perth.
此行的任务是什么？收集海洋和大气中的二氧化碳数据，以帮助科学家更好地理解海洋碳汇的作用。
Along the way, it is expected to encounter massive waves, freezing temperatures, ferocious winds, and even the odd curious seal or albatross.
澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织（CSIRO）首席研究科学家伊丽莎白·沙德里克（Elizabeth Shadwick）博士表示，这艘船在离开霍巴特后将向东驶向新西兰，“最终穿越南美洲南端与南极洲之间的德雷克海峡，然后经过南非返回我们这里，我们将在这里把它回收。”她希望在七到九个月后再次见到它。
The mission? To collect data on carbon dioxide in the ocean and atmosphere, to help scientists better understand the role of ocean sinks.
这艘由美国海事公司 Saildrone 制造的自主航行器专为经受住这次勇敢的远航而设计，它配有保持船体直立的重型龙骨、用于转向的舵，以及露出水面的固定太阳能帆。该公司将对其进行远程监控，通过卫星定期查看情况，并在必要时将其推向正确的方向。
Dr Elizabeth Shadwick, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO, said that after leaving Hobart the vessel would travel east towards New Zealand, “eventually scooching through the Drake Passage between the bottom of South America and Antarctica, then coming along past South Africa and back to us here, where we’ll pick it up.” She hoped to see it again in seven to nine months.
“这艘设备已经经历了大量的测试和评估，”沙德威克说，“它确实是一款非常可靠、性能稳定的小型观测装置。在我们部署它的第二天，我们就遇到了高达8米的海浪以及风速达到35节的风速。”
The autonomous vehicle made by the US maritime company Saildrone was designed to withstand the intrepid voyage, with a heavy keel keeping it upright, a rudder to steer and a fixed solar sail poking above the surface. It would be remotely monitored by the company, who would check in regularly via satellite, and, if necessary, nudge it in the right direction.
在整个航行过程中，该设备收集了多种数据——包括风速、大气压力、太阳辐射、海水温度、海水盐度、海水及空气中的叶绿素含量，以及二氧化碳浓度——这些数据有望帮助科学家们更好地了解海洋在全球变暖过程中的作用。
“It’s already been bashed around pretty heavily,” Shadwick said. “It’s quite a robust little device. We saw some eight metres of waves just the day after we deployed it and a 35-knot wind.”
“海洋每年吸收了大约三分之一的人为排放物，为我们所有人做出了巨大贡献，”沙德威克指出，“尤其是环绕南极洲的南大洋，发挥了关键作用。如果我们希望继续依赖海洋来吸收这些人为排放物，就必须了解海洋在未来可能会发生怎样的变化。”她补充说，以往那些由人类驾驶的研究船只在往返霍巴特和南极洲的途中，只能覆盖海洋的一小部分区域；而这款自主航行装置则能够在更广阔的范围内、更长的时间内收集数据，尤其是在极地冬季期间也能进行关键性的观测。
Measurements taken throughout its journey – including wind speed, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, ocean temperature, salinity and chlorophyll, as well as carbon dioxide levels in the water and air – were expected to assist scientists in better understanding the role that oceans play in global heating“The ocean is doing all of us a great service by absorbing about a third of anthropogenic or human emissions every year,” Shadwick said, and the Southern Ocean, around Antarctica, played a significant role. “If we want to continue to rely on this ocean service of absorbing our human emissions, we need to understand how it might change in the future.” Crewed research vessels that travelled between Hobart and Antarctica traversed only a limited patch of the ocean, she said. The autonomous craft would gather data over a greater distance and time, including crucial measurements during the polar winter.
这艘自主航行装置是整个观测舰队中的第一艘，后续还有三艘类似的装置计划每隔三个月发射一艘，它们将被部署到南大洋、太平洋、大西洋和印度洋中，尤其是在冬季期间。
The vessel is the first in a fleet of four. Others are planned to be launched at three-monthly intervals. They will be spread across the Southern, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, particularly during winter.
科学家们可以通过专门的科研平台实时获取这些数据；当这些装置返回基地后，所有收集到的数据和观测结果都会经过质量检测，之后才能被用于进一步的研究。
The scientists will be able to access information in near real time via a mission portal, and once the vessels return to home base, all data and observations will undergo quality checks before they are made available for further research.
澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织（CSIRO）的首席研究员佩普·卡纳德尔博士表示：“每燃烧一吨化石燃料产生的二氧化碳中，大约有500公斤会被海洋和森林吸收。这相当于为减缓气候变化提供了‘50%的折扣’。”
Dr Pep Canadell, a chief research scientist at the CSIRO, said for every tonne of carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels, about 500kg were removed by ocean and forest sinks. “This is like a 50% discount on climate change,” he said.
但他表示，海洋吸收二氧化碳的量可能会受到多种因素的影响：海水温度上升、西风、海冰融化、海洋酸化以及臭氧层空洞等。他说，通过观测数据，科学家们能够更准确地模拟这些过程，并了解它们在未来可能发生的变化。
But the amount absorbed by the oceans could change due to multiple drivers: warming waters, westerly winds, melting ice, ocean acidification and the hole in the ozone layer. Observations would enable scientists to more accurately model these processes and understand how they could change in the future, he said.
新南威尔士大学的马修·英格兰教授专门研究海洋环流对全球气候的影响，但他并未参与这项研究项目。他认为，测量海洋吸收二氧化碳的量及其变化情况至关重要。
The University of New South Wales professor Matthew England, who studies the role of ocean circulation in global climate but was not involved in the research project, said measuring how much the oceans absorbed and how that was changing was critical.
“显然，目前大气中的二氧化碳排放量正在急剧增加。陆地上的植被和海洋都吸收了其中很大一部分二氧化碳，”他说，“我们需要密切监测这种碳吸收过程，弄清楚其具体规模。如果海洋的碳吸收能力开始显著下降，那就意味着我们在减少碳排放方面面临更加严峻的挑战。”南大洋的环境极其恶劣：海浪巨大、风力强劲、海冰覆盖面积广且经常发生风暴，这些条件对科研船只来说非常不利于数据采集。因此，使用无需消耗燃料的自主航行设备来收集数据，确实是一项“非常先进的技术应用”。
“We’ve obviously got a surge of emissions going into our atmosphere. Both the terrestrial vegetation on land and the oceans absorb a big chunk of that,” he said. “We need to track that carbon uptake and understand exactly how big the absorption is. If it starts to decline in a significant way, then it tells us that we have an even bigger problem of carbon emission reductions.” The Southern Ocean was “inhospitable” with huge swells, gale force winds, sea ice and storms. “These are very tough measuring conditions for a research vessel.” So gathering data using an autonomous vehicle, without burning fuel, was “an incredible deployment of technology”, he said.