 Northern lights linked to North Sea whale strandings 北极光与抹香鲸搁浅有关 Large solar storms, responsible for the northern lights, may have played a role in the strandings of 29 sperm whales in the North Sea early in 2016. 巨大的太阳风暴，导致了北极光，也可能在2016年北海的29头抹香鲸搁浅事件中扮演了一个角色。 A new study says these geomagnetic disruptions may have confused the whales' ability to navigate, diverting them into the shallow waters. 一项研究显示，这些地磁扰动可能使鲸鱼的导航能力紊乱，致使它们转移方向冲上浅滩。 Trapped and lost, the whales died on European beaches, attempting to escape. 这些鲸鱼被困在了欧洲的海滩上，迷失了方向，并试图逃走。 The research has been published recently in the International Journal of Astrobiology. 这一研究结果最近发表在国际生物医学工程杂志上。 Mysterious losses 神秘的死亡 Researchers have been puzzled by the losses as autopsies showed that the animals were mainly well fed, young and disease-free. 研究人员在经过尸检后发现鲸鱼都没有挨饿，年轻而且无病，因此对他们的死亡感到不解。 The 29 strandings generated a great deal of public interest and a large number of theories among scientists. 29头鲸鱼的死亡吸引了大量的公众视线，并在科学家之间引发了各种理论。 These ranged from poisoning, to climatic changes driving prey into the North Sea which the large cetaceans followed to their doom. 这些理论从中毒、到气候变化导致食物深入北海，在这里鲸类难逃厄运。 Sperm whales live in deep, warm-to-temperate waters all around the world. Many groups live around the Azores in the eastern Atlantic. 抹香鲸生活在世界各地的温暖的深水域中。很多生活在东大西洋的亚速尔群岛周围。 When they are between 10 and 15 years old, young males head north towards the polar region, attracted by the huge quantities of squid found in the colder waters. 当它们达到10岁至15岁时，年轻的雄性鲸鱼游向北极地区，寻找冰冷水域中数量巨大的乌贼。 Their journey sometimes takes them up along the west coasts of the UK and Ireland and into the Norwegian sea. They normally return by the same route. 他们有的时候会沿着英国和爱尔兰的西海岸，进入挪威海。通常，他们还回原路返回。 But in less than a month in early 2016, 29 sperm whales were found stranded on the coasts of Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and France. 2016年年初，不到一个月内，29只抹香鲸被发现在德国、荷兰、英国和法国的海滩上搁浅， Now a team of researchers say they think they understand what happened to them. 现在，有一组研究人员说，他们或许知道究竟发生了什么。 The argue that sperm whales navigate using the Earth's geomagnetic field. 争论的焦点是抹香鲸利用地球磁场导航。 Rather than being uniform, the field is stronger in some places and weaker in others, and scientists believe that species learn to read these anomalies and use them for navigation in the way that humans read contours on maps. 地球磁场并不是一致的，有些地区强，有些地区弱，科学家们相信有些动物就像人类认识等高线一样学会了认识这些异常现象，并利用它们导航。 Dr Klaus Vanselow from the University of Kiel, Germany, and his colleagues say that large-scale solar storms may have distorted the magnetic field and caused the whales to lose their way. Klaus Vanselow博士来自于德国的Kiel大学，他和同事们的说法是，强烈的太阳风暴扰乱了磁场并导致鲸鱼迷失方向。 Triggered by coronal mass ejections from the Sun, these storms contain large amounts of charged particles and radiation. 由于日冕喷射出大量物质，太阳风暴包含了大量的带电粒子和辐射。 When they hit the Earth's upper atmosphere, they produce the spectacular displays of the polar lights over the Arctic, however the most powerful storms can also damage communications systems and satellites. 但它们到达地球外层大气时，它们在北极制造出壮观的北极极光，但这种强大的风暴也能损坏通讯系统和人造卫星。 Scientists already have some evidence that solar storm activity can impact the navigating abilities of birds and bees. 科学家已经掌握一些证据，证明太阳风暴能够影响鸟类和蜜蜂的导航能力。 Dr Vanselow and his coll+eagues studied the connection between whale strandings and two major solar storms that took place at the very end of December in 2015. Vanselow博士和他的同事研究了2015年12月底发生的鲸鱼搁浅和两次太阳风暴之间的关系。 These produced huge displays of the Aurora Borealis that were seen in many parts of Scotland and elsewhere. 这些产生了强烈的北极光，在苏格兰和一些其他地区都能看到。 Looking specifically at the region around Shetland, the scientists found that these solar events would have caused short-term shifts in the magnetic field of up to 460km, in the area between the islands and Norway. 特别是在设德兰岛周围，科学家发现这些太阳活动能导致460公里的短期的磁场变动，就在该岛和挪威之间。 This could have caused sperm whales in the region to move in the wrong direction. 这有可能导致这一地区的抹香鲸游向错误的方向。 They also believe that sperm whales see a regular magnetic anomaly off the Norwegian coast as a "geomagnetic mountain chain", a kind of guardrail that prevents them from entering the North Sea. 他们还认为抹香鲸把挪威海岸上的一种正常的磁异常视为“地磁山脉”，一种防止它们进入北海的护栏。 The solar storms may have nullified this effect, rendering the mountain chain invisible and allowing the whales to swim through into the North Sea. 太阳风暴可能降低这种效果，致使这种山脉消失而让鲸鱼们游进了北海。 "Where the polar lights are seen, that's the region with the most geomagnetic disruptions on the Earth's surface," Dr Vanselow told BBC News. Vanselow博士告诉BBC新闻说：“能看到极光的地方，就是地球表面地磁扰动最厉害的地方。” "Sperm whales are very huge animals and swim in the free ocean so if they are disrupted by this affect, they can swim in the wrong direction for days and then correct it. “抹香鲸是一种巨大的动物，生活在大洋中。如果受到影响，它们会在错误的方向上游好几天，才能改正过来。” "But in the area between Scotland and Norway, if the whales swim in the wrong direction for one or two days, then it is too late for them to go back, they are trapped." “但是在苏格兰和挪威之间，如果鲸鱼以错误的方向游一到两天，则来不及改变方向了，它们就会被困住了。” Dr Vanselow believes that his theory makes sense with the timeline of the discovery of the stranded whales up to six weeks after the storms. Vanselow博士认为他的理论与鲸鱼在太阳风暴六周后搁浅在海滩上的时间是相吻合的。 He believes that because young males grow up around the Azores, an area that sees minimal impacts from solar storms, the creatures have little experience of the abrupt and powerful events that affect the poles. 他认为因为年轻的雄性鲸鱼成长在亚速尔，那里受太阳风暴影响很小，这些动物对这种影响北极的突然而有力的活动没有经验。 Dr Vanselow's research is a theory that is very difficult, if not impossible, to prove. Vanselow博士得出的理论很难的、且不太可能、被证明。 However, other scientists say it is plausible. 但是，一些科学家认为他的这种说法是有道理的。 "It would be difficult to say that 'yes this was the cause', we would be cautious in saying that," said Abbo Van Neer from the University of Hannover who carried out the autopsies on the 16 whales that stranded in Germany. Abbo Van Neer来自汉诺威大学，他为在德国搁浅的16头鲸鱼的尸体进行了解剖。他说：“很难说‘这就是原因’，下这个结论是要很小心的。” "But it is a valid hypothesis and a potential reason for the stranding." “但这是一个有效的假设，而且是搁浅的一个潜在的原因。” Nasa has also been investigating the question of whether solar storms can affect a whole range of cetaceans around the world. Nasa也在调查全球范围内太阳风暴是否影响整个鲸鱼类动物的问题。 A team of researchers is shortly to publish a research paper on the connection between strandings in Cape Cod and geomagnetic storms. They say the Venselow paper is "well founded". 一组研究人员近期要发表一篇论文，是关于科德角的鲸鱼搁浅和地磁风暴之间的关系的。他们说Venselow的论文“很站得住脚”。 "It is one potential mechanism for having animals confused, I think it's a credible theory," Dr Antti Pulkkinen, who is leading the Nasa project, told BBC News. Antti Pulkkinen博士领导者Nasa项目的小组，他告诉BBC新闻说：“这是一个可以导致动物迷惑的潜在因素，我认为这是很可信的理论。” "But does their paper prove that is the case? I don't think so." “但他们的论文证明了就是这样吗？我认为没有。” "Having looked at this problem from a data analysis point of view, it is not a single factor that contributes to this. “从数据分析的角度看这个问题，造成这一结果的因素不是单一的。” "Things need to line up from multiple different perspectives for these events to take place." 事情需要从多个不同的角度排列，才会导致这种事的发生。 重点单词汇总 sperm whale：抹香鲸; strand：搁浅; make sense：说得通; geomagnetic ：地磁的; polar light：极光， solar storm ：太阳风暴 |
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