Laura Robinson: The secrets I find on the mysterious ocean floor
لورا روبنسون: الأسرار التي أجدها في قعر المحيط الغامض
Dr. Laura Robinson's scientific mission is to document and understand the processes that govern climate. Full bio
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of the ocean today.
في الوقت الحاضر
of the ocean in the past.
في الماضي
of deepwater corals.
الأحفورية لمرجان الأعماق.
of these corals behind me.
إحدى هذه الشُعب المرجانية خلفي
thousands of meters below the sea,
على عمق آلاف الأمتار تحت البحر.
than the kinds of corals
if you've had a tropical holiday.
إن كنتم في عطلة إستوائية.
beautiful two-dimensional image
الجميلة الثنائية البعد
so it's got tremendous spatial resolution.
الإصطناعي، و لذلك هي ذات وضوح هائل.
easy to understand.
because there's more sunlight.
تتعرض لأشعة شمسٍ أكثر.
because there's less sunlight.
تتعرض لأشعة شمس أقل.
to build up on Antarctica
جليدية كبيرة في أنتاركتيكا.
or even put your toes in the sea,
وضعت إصبع قدمك فيه،
برودة كلما غطست فيه
that fill the abyss of the ocean
العميقة التي تملأ أعماق المحيط
where the waters are dense.
حيث المياه كثيفة
20,000 years ago,
20.000 سنة.
of one of the major differences
عن اختلاف واحد فقط
if you went back that long.
and they extended out over the ocean.
و امتدت إلى ما بعد المحيط
أخفض بـ120 مترا.
much lower than they are today.
أخفض بكثير مما هي عليه اليوم.
to five degrees colder overall,
أخفض بخمس درجات بالمجمل.
in the polar regions.
are trying to understand,
cold climate condition
الظروف المناخية الباردة
that we enjoy today.
الدافئة التي نستمتع بها اليوم.
اللبيات الجليدية
cold conditions to warm conditions
الباردة إلى الظروف الدافئة
from the slow increase in solar radiation.
الإرتفاع البطيء لأشعة الشمس
because if you drill down into ice,
لأنكم إذا حفرتم في الغطاء الجليدي.
and you can see this in the iceberg.
و تستطيعون رؤية ذلك في الجبل الجليدي.
الزرقاء و البيضاء
so we can measure CO2 --
نستطيع قياس حجم ثاني أوكسيد الكربون --
was lower in the past --
أوكسيد الكربون كان أخفض --
also tells us about temperature
أيضا عن درجة الحرارة
from 20,000 years ago to the modern day,
سنة إلى حاضرنا اليوم.
الكربون أيضا على دفعات.
has a lot to do with this.
للمحيط ارتباطا كبيرا بهذا.
than is in the atmosphere.
across the equator,
and it controls primary productivity.
أيضا بعمليات الإنتاج الأولية.
what's going on down in the deep sea,
الذي يحدث في أعماق المحيط،
coming from a seamount
in international waters
في مياه دولية
to see this bit of the seafloor,
الجزء من قاع المحيط،
and do some very intense taxonomy.
و القيام بتصنيف كثيف.
growing on these corals.
تنمو على هذه المرجانات.
like tentacles coming out of corals.
of calcium carbonate
أنواع مختلفة من الكالسيوم الكربوني
massive undersea mountain,
الجبل المحيطي الضخم،
those are fossilized corals,
مرجانات متحجرة،
a little more about those
to charter a research boat.
لإستئجار قارب بحث
an ocean-class research vessel
مركب معد للبحث
a little more like this.
that we don't lose precious samples.
من عدم فقدان عينات ثمينة.
and I get terribly seasick,
و أنا أصاب بدوار بحر فظيع.
but overall it is.
لكنه بالمجمل كذلك.
a really good mapper to do this.
مخططين جيدين لفعل ذلك.
coral abundance everywhere.
الفريدة في كل مكان.
the right places.
and overlaid was our cruise passage
و رحلتنا الإستكشافية كانت شاملة
of the seafloor in seven weeks,
من أرضية المحيط خلال سبعة أسابيع
of the seafloor.
look featureless on a big-scale map,
عديم الملامح في خريطة كبيرة،
are as big as Everest.
يكون بكبر جبل إيفيرست
ننجزها على السفينة
to deploy our equipment,
remotely-operated vehicles
that are one-meter resolution
خرائط بدقة تقاس بالمتر
of big lights on the top.
الأضواء الكبيرة في الأعلى.
manipulator arms,
و أذرعا موجهة من بعد،
to put your samples.
of this particular cruise,
the remotely operated vehicles
لضمان أن المركبات
it's a small sea slug, basically.
عبارة عن بزاقة بحرية أساسا،
you is speeded up,
coming up was a big surprise.
صاعدا كان بمثابة مفاجئة كبيرة.
and it took us all a bit surprised.
and we were all a bit trigger-happy,
و كنا جميعا مترقبين للمفاجآة،
sea monster started rolling past.
العملاق يتدلفن بجانبنا .
or colonial tunicate, if you like.
"بخاخ البحر الإستعماري".
deep sea corals.
مرجانات الأعماق.
of one in a moment.
so you can see its tentacles there,
و ترون مجساتها هناك،
for about a hundred years.
chemicals from the ocean.
or the amount of chemicals,
it depends on the pH,
these chemicals get into the skeleton,
المواد إلى الهيكل العظمي،
collect fossil specimens,
used to look like in the past.
that coral with a vacuum system,
بواسطة نظام للشفط،
carefully, I should add.
an image taken by my colleague,
صورة التقطها أحد زملائي،
meters below Hawaii.
of these corals and polish it up,
هذه المرجانات و قمتم بتلميعه.
across this coral --
على طول هذه المرجانة --
that these are actual annual bands,
us back to our last glacial maximum.
لأوج الدور الجليدي السابق.
with my research team.
ضمن زملائي في البحث.
there are swimming holothurians,
to these dead fossil areas
لمناطق المرجانات المتحجرة
around on the seafloor.
الحفر في أرضية المحيط.
bring them back, we sort them out.
ثم نجلبها ثم نصنفها.
those chemical signals,
in the ocean in the past.
polished it very carefully
و قمت بتلميعها بحرص
put it in a nuclear reactor,
و وضعناها في مفاعل نووي،
about the rates and dates
when we're thinking about climate.
حين نفكر بالمناخ
thorium, in these corals,
في هذه المرجانات
how old the fossils are.
of the Southern Ocean
how we're using these corals
ocean feedbacks.
of the surface water
من إعداد (ريان أبرناثي).
the Southern Ocean is.
particularly the Drake Passage,
currents in the world
flowing from west to east.
متدفقا من الغرب إلى الشرق.
great big undersea mountains,
عبر تلك الجبال البحرية العملاقة،
with the atmosphere in and out.
أوكسيد الكربون مع الغلاف الجوي.
through the Southern Ocean.
across this Antarctic passage,
ممر القطب الجنوبي هذا،
from my uranium dating:
بخصوص بيانات اليورانيوم خاصتي:
to the interglacial.
الدور الجليدي إلى الدور البيجليدي.
to do with the food source
we've found about climate
وجدناه بخصوص المناخ
We collected little fossil corals.
و جمعنا عينات المرجان المتحجر.
we've made in the corals,
was very rich in carbon,
كان غنيا بثاني أوكسيد الكربون،
layer sitting on top.
coming out of the ocean.
that are of an intermediate age,
partway through that climate transition.
في مرحلة من ذلك الإنتقال.
out of the deep ocean.
أوكسيد الكربون من المحيط.
closer to the modern day,
where carbon can exchange in and out.
أوكسيد الكربون أن يتسرب في الإتجاهين.
we can use fossil corals
استعمال المرجانات المتحجرة
with this last slide.
piece of footage that I showed you.
to find things this beautiful.
to appreciate the fossil corals
تقدير المرجانات المتحجرة
to fly over the ocean
فوق المحيط في المرة القادمة
sea mountains down there
بحرية عملاقة بالأسفل
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Laura Robinson - Ocean scientistDr. Laura Robinson's scientific mission is to document and understand the processes that govern climate.
Why you should listen
Dr. Laura Robinson's research the processes that govern climate on time scales ranging from the modern day back through hundreds of thousands of years. To do this research, Robinson uses geochemical techniques, with an emphasis on radioactive elements including uranium series isotopes and radiocarbon. These elements are particularly valuable as they have a wide range of decay rates and geochemical properties and can be analyzed in geologic materials such as corals, marine sediments and seawater.
Through a combination of field work and lab work, Robinson has been tackling questions relating to: timing of Pleistocene climate change events; palaeoclimate reconstructions; deep-sea coral paleo-biogeography; impact of weathering on the ocean and climate; biomineralization; development of new geochemical proxies for past climate conditions; chemical tracers of ocean circulation.
Robinson describes the inspiration behind her work:
“When I finished my PhD, I moved to California to work with Professor Jess Adkins at Caltech on a project using deep-sea corals. Before that time, like many people, I did not know that corals lived in the deep ocean. The first thing I did was prepare for a research cruise to the North Atlantic. We took the research submarine 'Alvin' out to undersea mountains and were able to collect fossil corals from the seafloor. The start of my work in the Southern Ocean came from analysis of a single coral specimen from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC. They loaned us the sample, and we found that it was about 16,000 years old, just right for looking at the middle of the last global deglaciation. Being able to access and work on these specimens is a fantastic way of starting a science project. We published a paper on that sample, and then, together with a coral biologist, I wrote a proposal to fund specific expeditions to the Southern Ocean, and to the Equatorial Atlantic to gain a wider view of how the Atlantic Ocean behaved during major climate transitions.
I love the research as it combines field work, lab work and collaborations with all kinds of people including scientists, engineers as well as the ships' crews. In terms of scientists, I work with biologists, oceanographers, chemists, geologists, habitat specialists and a whole range of people who have technical expertise across these fields.”
Learn more about Robinson's current expidition in the Southern Ocean.
Laura Robinson | Speaker | TED.com