1937年7月，埃拉赫特与领航员弗雷德·努南在赤道附近飞行时，于太平洋上空神秘失踪。
at the equator ended in mystery when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937.
随着她失踪90周年纪念日日益临近，一支新的探险队即将出发，旨在最终查明在这片浩瀚的太平洋上究竟发生了什么。这支探险队自认掌握了至关重要的新证据。
With the 90th anniversary of her disappearance on the horizon, a new expedition is setting out to finally determine what happened over the vastness of the Pacific. And this expedition has what it believes is crucial new evidence.
这支由印第安纳州普渡大学与考古遗产研究所组成的团队定于周六启程前往无人居住的尼库马罗罗岛，以确认该岛环礁湖中的异常物体是否就是埃拉赫特失踪的飞机。
The team from Purdue University in Indiana and the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) is scheduled to depart for the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro on Saturday to determine if an anomaly in the island's lagoon is Earhart's missing plane.
尼库马罗罗岛隶属于太平洋岛国基里巴斯，长期以来一直被认为是埃拉赫特与努南遇难的地点。
Part of the low-lying Pacific island nation of Kiribati, Nikumaroro has long been considered the place where Earhart and Noonan died.
1937年7月2日，两人从新几内亚起飞，目的地是豪兰岛。他们计划在那里加油后继续飞往夏威夷，最终在加利福尼亚完成环球飞行。
The pair had taken off from New Guinea on July 2, 1937, on the leg to the island of Howland, where they were to refuel before continuing on to Hawaii and completing the circumnavigation in California.
然而途中出现了变故。尽管美国海岸警卫队的船只能够接收到埃拉赫特的无线电信号，她的洛克希德·伊莱克特拉飞机当时也极有可能就在附近，但她始终下落不明。
Amelia Earhart, left, and navigator Fred Noonan hold a map of the Pacific Ocean showing the planned route of their flight Something went amiss en route, however, and even though a US Coast Guard ship could hear Earhart's radio transmissions and her Lockheed Electra must have been tantalizingly close, she was never found.
在她发出的最后几条信息中，她提到自己正沿着一条南北走向的航线飞行，这样最有可能在燃油耗尽前找到陆地。这条航线恰好经过尼库马罗罗岛。
One of the last messages said she was running on a north-south navigational line that gave her the best chance of finding land before her fuel ran out. That line went through Nikumaroro.
1988年，国际历史飞机搜寻小组首次提出，埃拉赫特有可能成功抵达尼库马罗罗岛，并在其周边的珊瑚礁上迫降。该小组于1989年首次登岛考察，此后又七次重返该岛，发现了一些极具价值的物证，包括飞机用铝材以及挡风玻璃的有机玻璃碎片。
Landing on a coral reef In 1988, researchers from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) were the first to suggest that Earhart could have reached Nikumaroro and landed on its fringing coral reef. TIGHAR's first visit to the island was in 1989 and the group has returned a further seven times, turning up some compelling artifacts, including lengths of aircraft aluminum and plexiglass from a windscreen.
现场发现了一个香水瓶、一个20世纪30年代中期在宾夕法尼亚州制造的拉链、一份飞机清单中所记载的同品牌折刀的零件，还有一只女式鞋的鞋跟。
There is a scent bottle, a zip made in Pennsylvania in the mid-1930s, parts of a pocket knife of the same brand that was listed in an inventory of the aircraft and the heel of a woman's shoe.
档案研究显示，1940年在该岛上发现的人类遗骸最初被认为属于埃尔哈特或努南，但在太平洋战争的混乱中这些遗骸便不知所踪了。
Archive research discovered that human remains discovered on the island in 1940 were initially believed to be of Earhart or Noonan — but were lost in the chaos of the Pacific war.
尽管进行了多次搜寻，至今仍无人找到能确证此次空难真相的关键物品——即只可能来自那架失事飞机的物件。
Despite the searches, no one has yet found the "smoking gun" artifact, an item that could only have come from the doomed flight.
卫星图像带来了新的希望。此次探险的领队、考古遗产研究所（ALI）执行主任里克·佩蒂格鲁认为，自然因素或许已让无可辩驳的证据显露出来。
Satellite images offer fresh hope Expedition leader Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), believes the elements may have uncovered incontrovertible evidence.
2015年，一场强热带气旋席卷中太平洋，改变了该岛及其环礁湖的地形。随后几年拍摄的卫星图像显示，在塔拉亚海角附近的浅水区似乎有飞机机身与机翼的轮廓。
A powerful tropical cyclone tore through the central Pacific in 2015, shifting geographical features on the island and in its lagoon. Satellite images taken over the following years showed what might be the outline of an aircraft fuselage and wings in shallow water off the Taraia promontory.
“卫星图像中的这个物体大小恰好与‘伊莱克特拉’号飞机的机身及尾翼相符，”ALI官网这样写道，“它看起来反光性很强，很可能是金属材质。它位于极浅的水域中，大部分被沉积物覆盖；此处的水流会将漂浮物从塔蒂曼海峡——即海洋与环礁之间的通道——带入环礁湖。”佩蒂格鲁带领的17人团队计划集中所有力量，在图像显示可能存在残骸的区域展开调查，他们将运用无人机摄影、磁力仪遥感及声呐技术。如果初步结果理想，还将使用水力挖泥机清除沉积物。
"This object in the satellite images is exactly the right size to represent the fuselage and tail of the Electra," the ALI website states. "It also appears to be very reflective and is likely to be metallic. It lies in very shallow water, largely covered by sediment, in a place where the current would bring an object floating into the lagoon through Tatiman Passage, the opening to the ocean and the reef." Pettigrew's 17-strong team intends to focus all its efforts on the place where the images indicate debris may be located, using drone photography, remote sensing with magnetometers and sonar units. If the initial results are positive, a hydraulic dredge will be deployed to excavate sediment.
根据ALI的考察计划：“一旦我们能让物体的大部分显露出来，就能确定它的身份。如果它是由飞机用铝材制成，且具备‘伊莱克特拉’飞机特有的形状与铆钉排列模式，我们就能确认这就是埃尔哈特飞机的残骸。”寻找“确凿证据”ALI的诸多理论均基于TIGHAR所做的研究与实地调查，但该组织的执行主任里克·吉莱斯皮并不认为考察队能找到所谓的“确凿证据”。
"Once we have a sufficient portion of the object exposed, we should be able to identify it," according to the ALI's expedition plan. "If it is made of aircraft aluminum and has the specific shape and rivet patterns of the Electra, we will know that we have found the remains of Earhart's aircraft." In search of a 'smoking gun' Much of the ALI's theory is based on the research and fieldwork carried out by TIGHAR, but its executive director, Ric Gillespie, is not convinced the researchers will find the "smoking gun."
此次前往尼库马罗环礁的考察有望解开这个持续近90年的谜团。“佩蒂格鲁认为那些出现在旧卫星图像中的物体是飞机残骸，但实际上它们看起来更像是一棵在风暴中被连根拔起、随后被冲到塔拉伊亚海滩上的露兜树，”吉莱斯皮对德国之声说道。
The expedition to Nikumaroro could finally resolve a mystery that has endured for nearly 90 years "The object visible in old satellite imagery that Pettigrew believes is aircraft wreckage does not look like aircraft wreckage," Gillespie told DW. "It looks like a dead pandanus tree that was uprooted in a storm and washed up on Taraia."
“佩蒂格鲁认为这些残骸如今看不见是因为被淤泥掩埋了，”吉莱斯皮指出，“但他从未去过那个地方，也不了解那里的淤泥厚度其实只有几英寸而已。”他补充道，TIGHAR的考察队曾在2001年和2007年使用金属探测器在同一地点进行搜索，但一无所获。即便如此，吉莱斯皮依然坚信埃尔哈特当时就在尼库马罗环礁上。
"Pettigrew thinks the wreckage is no longer visible because it is buried in silt," Gillespie noted. "He has never been to that location and does not understand that the silt there is only a few inches deep." Teams from TIGHAR searched the same location in 2001 and 2007 with metal detectors and drew blanks, he said. Yet Gillespie remains convinced that Earhart was on Nikumaroro.
“我认为飞机在被冲过礁石边缘后立即沉没，并在海浪中被撞得粉碎，”他说。“主要部件最终被水下山体滑坡掩埋……或被珊瑚覆盖。我们能找到的都已经找到了。”
"I think the aircraft sank immediately after being washed over the reef edge and was smashed to pieces in the surf," he said. "Major components were eventually buried in underwater landslides … or grown over with coral. We have found what there is to find."
多萝西·科克伦（Dorothy Cochrane）作为华盛顿特区史密森尼国家航空航天博物馆的馆长，在过去35年里一直密切关注着对埃尔哈特（Earhart）的搜寻工作，即使在最近退休后也依然如此。她说，埃尔哈特之所以至今仍让许多人着迷，是因为“这是20世纪乃至延续到21世纪最伟大的未解之谜。”另一种假设：她对1937年发生的事情有不同的看法。
Dorothy Cochrane, who has monitored progress in the search for Earhart for more than 35 years as curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC and continues to do so since her recent retirement, says Earhart still holds fascination for so many people "because it is 'the greatest unsolved mystery of the 20th and continuing into the 21st centuries.'" An alternative scenario She has a different view of what happened in 1937.
她认为，如果埃尔哈特在靠近豪兰岛（Howland）时燃料几乎耗尽，那么再飞行640公里（400英里）到达尼库马罗罗环礁（Nikumaroro）是不可能的。科克伦还表示，那些被引证为岛上有遇难者遗迹的物品，可以用其他访客以及那里曾存在过几年的小型定居点来解释。
She argues that if Earhart was nearly out of fuel while still close to Howland, it would have been impossible to fly another 640 kilometers (400 miles) to Nikumaroro. Cochrane also says that items cited as evidence of a castaway on the island can be explained by other visitors and by a small settlement that existed there for several years.
“根据飞行事实，我相信埃尔哈特和努南（Noonan）当时就在豪兰岛附近，只是在燃料耗尽前没能找到它，”她说。
"I believe that Earhart and Noonan were in the general vicinity of Howland Island, based on the facts of the flight, but just could not find it before they ran out of fuel," she said.
“在广阔大海的晨光中，豪兰岛只是一个小点，”她说，并暗示埃尔哈特无法建立无线电联系来引导她完成最后几英里的航程。
"Howland Island was a tiny speck in the morning light of a vast sea," she said, suggesting Earhart could not establish radio contact to guide her the last few miles to her destination.
科克伦认为“伊莱克特拉”（Electra）号飞机就在豪兰岛附近的海底。这一理论也被其他人提出过，近年来该地区已经进行了多次搜寻。
Cochrane believes the Electra is on the seabed close to Howland. It is a theory that others have also advanced, and several searches of the area have been carried out in recent years.
然而，如果佩蒂格鲁（Pettigrew）的线索有所收获，它将为这个困扰航空界近90年的谜题画上句号。
If Pettigrew's lead pays off, however, it will conclude aviation's nearly 90-year puzzle.
岛屿沉没：基里巴斯直面气候变化。观看此视频，编辑：基思·沃克（Keith Walker）
Sinking islands: Kiribati faces up to climate change Edited by: Keith Walker