Laura Robinson: The secrets I find on the mysterious ocean floor
Лора Робинсон: Тайны океанского дна
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.
of the ocean in the past.
и происходили в нём в прошлом.
of deepwater corals.
глубоководных кораллов.
of these corals behind me.
изображение такого коралла.
thousands of meters below the sea,
на глубине нескольких тысяч метров.
than the kinds of corals
if you've had a tropical holiday.
в тропических морях во время отпуска.
beautiful two-dimensional image
двухмерное изображение
so it's got tremendous spatial resolution.
высокое пространственное разрешение.
easy to understand.
because there's more sunlight.
потому что там много солнечного света.
because there's less sunlight.
потому что там меньше солнца.
to build up on Antarctica
ледникового покрова Антарктиды
or even put your toes in the sea,
зайдя в воду, вы понимаете:
that fill the abyss of the ocean
что вода на большой глубине
where the waters are dense.
где её плотность очень велика.
20,000 years ago,
на 20 000 лет назад, мы увидим,
of one of the major differences
увидели, если бы вернулись в прошлое.
if you went back that long.
and they extended out over the ocean.
и распространялся на океан.
much lower than they are today.
было намного меньше.
to five degrees colder overall,
была от 3 до 5 градусов ниже,
in the polar regions.
было гораздо холоднее.
are trying to understand,
cold climate condition
that we enjoy today.
cold conditions to warm conditions
не так уж гладко,
from the slow increase in solar radiation.
медленное усиление солнечной радиации.
because if you drill down into ice,
кернов: при бурении льда
and you can see this in the iceberg.
которые видны на этом айсберге.
so we can measure CO2 --
поэтому мы можем измерить уровень СО2.
was lower in the past --
его уровень был ниже.
also tells us about temperature
выводы о температуре воздуха
from 20,000 years ago to the modern day,
в двух полярных регионах.
рос скачкáми.
has a lot to do with this.
в этом сыграл океан.
than is in the atmosphere.
across the equator,
тепло от экватора к полюсам,
and it controls primary productivity.
за первичную продуктивность экосистемы.
what's going on down in the deep sea,
что происходит в глубинах океана,
coming from a seamount
in international waters
в открытом море.
to see this bit of the seafloor,
and do some very intense taxonomy.
и тщательно их классифицировать.
growing on these corals.
like tentacles coming out of corals.
растущие из кораллов.
of calcium carbonate
форм карбоната кальция
massive undersea mountain,
those are fossilized corals,
a little more about those
во время нашего путешествия
to charter a research boat.
исследовательский корабль.
an ocean-class research vessel
исследовательское судно,
a little more like this.
that we don't lose precious samples.
and I get terribly seasick,
but overall it is.
хотя в общем довольно весело.
a really good mapper to do this.
быть хорошим картографом,
coral abundance everywhere.
найдёшь далеко не везде.
на большой глубине,
the right places.
для исследований.
and overlaid was our cruise passage
на которой был отмечен
of the seafloor in seven weeks,
морского дна.
of the seafloor.
look featureless on a big-scale map,
бы невыразительно на большой карте,
are as big as Everest.
этих гор не ниже Эвереста.
to deploy our equipment,
где разместить оборудование,
remotely-operated vehicles
аппарат, который опускается
that are one-meter resolution
карты дна с разрешением в 1 метр
of big lights on the top.
осветительные приборы.
manipulator arms,
манипуляторы
to put your samples.
of this particular cruise,
во время того плавания.
the remotely operated vehicles
что нашим устройствам
it's a small sea slug, basically.
это небольшой морской слизень.
you is speeded up,
видео я воспроизвожу ускоренно,
coming up was a big surprise.
and it took us all a bit surprised.
оно поразило буквально всех.
and we were all a bit trigger-happy,
напряжённой работы, все были на грани.
морское чудовище.
sea monster started rolling past.
or colonial tunicate, if you like.
как вам больше нравится.
deep sea corals.
of one in a moment.
so you can see its tentacles there,
вы видите его щупальца,
for about a hundred years.
chemicals from the ocean.
он поглощает вещества из океана.
or the amount of chemicals,
it depends on the pH,
these chemicals get into the skeleton,
проникают в скелет коралла,
collect fossil specimens,
и исследовав их,
used to look like in the past.
that coral with a vacuum system,
вакуумным устройством
carefully, I should add.
очень аккуратно.
живут ещё дольше.
an image taken by my colleague,
мой коллега Брендан Рорк
meters below Hawaii.
of these corals and polish it up,
и отшлифовать её,
across this coral --
разных фрагментов коралла —
that these are actual annual bands,
не что иное как годовые кольца.
us back to our last glacial maximum.
к последнему ледниковому максимуму.
with my research team.
остальные исследователи
there are swimming holothurians,
to these dead fossil areas
к этим окаменелостям
around on the seafloor.
bring them back, we sort them out.
переносим на борт, сортируем.
those chemical signals,
эти химические сигналы
in the ocean in the past.
polished it very carefully
тщательно отполированного
put it in a nuclear reactor,
в ядерный реактор,
about the rates and dates
скорости и сроки
для изучения климата.
when we're thinking about climate.
thorium, in these corals,
входящие в состав кораллов.
how old the fossils are.
точный возраст кораллов.
of the Southern Ocean
Южного океана
how we're using these corals
как мы используем эти кораллы,
ocean feedbacks.
of the surface water
the Southern Ocean is.
particularly the Drake Passage,
особенно в Проливе Дрейка,
currents in the world
течений в мире,
flowing from west to east.
great big undersea mountains,
огромными подводными горами,
with the atmosphere in and out.
теплом и СО2 с атмосферой.
through the Southern Ocean.
across this Antarctic passage,
from my uranium dating:
и пришла к интересному выводу:
to the interglacial.
к межледниковому периоду.
to do with the food source
связано с источником питания
кислорода в воде.
we've found about climate
Мы собирали окаменелые кораллы.
We collected little fossil corals.
we've made in the corals,
was very rich in carbon,
содержала много углерода,
layer sitting on top.
имели низкую плотность.
coming out of the ocean.
покидать океан.
относящиеся к переходному периоду.
that are of an intermediate age,
partway through that climate transition.
смешался при смене климата.
out of the deep ocean.
покидать глубины океана.
closer to the modern day,
более молодых кораллов
where carbon can exchange in and out.
we can use fossil corals
об окружающей среде.
with this last slide.
вам показать.
piece of footage that I showed you.
которое вы уже видели.
to find things this beautiful.
такую красоту.
to appreciate the fossil corals
которые и вы теперь можете
to fly over the ocean
когда будете лететь над океаном
sea mountains down there
огромные подводные горы,
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