科學(xué)家故意傾瀉石油入湖泊研究生態(tài)保護(hù)

It's rare that oil is spilled intentionally. But that iswhat recently happened at a lake in Ontario, Canada.

故意泄漏石油世所罕見(jiàn)。但最近，在加拿大安大略省的一個(gè)湖泊這樣的事情還真在上演。

Earlier in June, bitumen -- a molasses-like productthat comes from oil sands -- was drizzled into corralsin an unnamed lake in Ontario's InternationalInstitute for Sustainable Development ExperimentalLakes Area (IISD-ELA). The reason may seemcounterintuitive: to protect future freshwatersystems from oil spills.

六月初，瀝青--油砂中提煉出的糖漿似物質(zhì)，被倒入了安大略國(guó)際可持續(xù)發(fā)展研究院實(shí)驗(yàn)湖區(qū)中一個(gè)無(wú)名湖的圍欄中。原因可能聽(tīng)起來(lái)有些莫名其妙：為了保護(hù)未來(lái)可能遭受石油泄漏的淡水系統(tǒng)。

In giant, test tube-like columns of natural lake water, scientists are studying the physical, chemical, biological and toxicological impacts of the diluted form of bitumen (called 'dilbit' forshort) on freshwater organisms -- from tiny plankton to frogs and fish.

在這些裝著天然湖水的巨大的管子似的圓柱中，科學(xué)家們正在研究稀釋瀝青對(duì)淡水生物(從浮游生物到青蛙和魚(yú)類)的物理作用、化學(xué)作用、生物作用以及毒性作用。

Until now, these kinds of experiments have only been attempted in the laboratory. But lab-based work can't replicate a real-life scenario.

在此之前，這種實(shí)驗(yàn)只在實(shí)驗(yàn)室中做過(guò)，但僅僅基于實(shí)驗(yàn)室的研究不能復(fù)制真實(shí)自然界情景。

This experiment, the first of its kind in Canada, is an opportunity for scientists to answer thekinds of questions that could help protect Canada's lakes in the future: What happens tospilled bitumen in freshwater ecosystems? Where does it go? And how can it be cleaned up inthe safest, most effective way?

加拿大這項(xiàng)開(kāi)創(chuàng)性實(shí)驗(yàn)，讓科學(xué)家們有機(jī)會(huì)弄清楚未來(lái)如何有效保護(hù)加拿大湖泊的一些問(wèn)題，比如泄漏的瀝青在淡水生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中會(huì)引起什么反應(yīng)?瀝青去了哪里?怎么能最安全、有效地清理干凈?

That's because clean up procedures for accidentally spilled dilbit are necessarily different thanthose for conventional crude oil.

因?yàn)榍謇硐♂尀r青的方法和傳統(tǒng)原油的方法并不相同。

In the weeks leading up to the spill, dozens of students have been labouring at the gravel pit, shovelling sand into bags. They haul their quarry along a muddy, root-filled trail to the lake bylorry and quad bike. Once unloaded, the heavy sandbags are muscled down to the wooden dockto be loaded onto boats.

在傾倒稀釋瀝青之前的幾個(gè)星期，許多學(xué)生已經(jīng)在采石場(chǎng)工作了很久。他們鏟沙裝進(jìn)袋子，然后開(kāi)著卡車或四輪摩托，沿著樹(shù)根纏繞的泥濘道路，把這些沙袋運(yùn)到湖邊，卸下來(lái)之后放在木制碼頭上，然后再搬到船上。

"It's really cheap cross-fit," says University of Manitoba student Sonya Michaleski, here for herthird summer, with a laugh.

這是曼尼托巴大學(xué)的學(xué)生索尼婭·麥考斯基來(lái)這里的第三個(gè)夏天，她笑著說(shuō)，"不花錢就能健身。"

Hauling sandbags is one part of her job. Collecting fish slime and fish vomit for analysis isanother.

運(yùn)沙袋是她工作的一部分。搜集魚(yú)的粘液和嘔吐物做分析是她的另一項(xiàng)工作。

 

Graduate student Sam Patterson explains his role: drawing water from the enclosures before and after the dilbit spill, then placing the black-dotted eggs of wood frogs in the treated and untreated water to see how the exposure affects their development.

山姆·帕特森是一名研究生，他解釋自己的角色：搜集稀釋瀝青泄漏前后圍欄內(nèi)的淡水，然后將樹(shù)蛙的黑點(diǎn)卵放入經(jīng)過(guò)處理和未經(jīng)處理的兩類湖水中，觀察瀝青對(duì)樹(shù)蛙發(fā)育會(huì)有什么影響。

The bulk of the data collection will take place this summer and autumn before the lake freezes up. Subsequent analysis by their team of more than 30 scientists will be shared first in academic journals, but ultimately with the public.

大量數(shù)據(jù)采集基本會(huì)在湖水上凍之前的夏天和秋天完成。30多個(gè)科學(xué)家組成的團(tuán)隊(duì)其后續(xù)分析結(jié)果會(huì)首先發(fā)表在學(xué)術(shù)期刊上，但最終會(huì)與大眾分享。

The IISD-ELA is known for its whole lake experiments. Past work has contaminated some lakes with phosphorus, cadmium, mercury, and synthetic oestrogen, the active ingredient in birth control pills. But never oil.

國(guó)際可持續(xù)發(fā)展研究院實(shí)驗(yàn)湖區(qū)以其完全在室外淡水湖作實(shí)驗(yàn)聞名。以前的實(shí)驗(yàn)曾用過(guò)磷、鎘、汞、合成雌激素等化學(xué)物，以及避孕藥里的有效成分來(lái)污染湖水作研究，但從未試過(guò)石油。

The experiment -- nicknamed Boreal, an acronym for Boreal Lake Oil Release Experiment byAdditions to Limnocorrals -- won't be a whole lake experiment, either.

實(shí)驗(yàn)的昵稱是“北湖”，是北方湖泊石油泄漏實(shí)驗(yàn)加上湖泊圍欄的簡(jiǎn)稱，但不是用整個(gè)湖區(qū)作實(shí)驗(yàn)。

Small enclosures restrict the oil spill area and four extra containment measures are in place to avoid contaminating the entire body of water, explains Vince Palace, IISD-ELA's head research scientist and project leader for a separate oil spill experiment, the Freshwater OilSpill Remediation Study (Forest).

文斯·帕雷斯是國(guó)際可持續(xù)發(fā)展研究院實(shí)驗(yàn)湖區(qū)的領(lǐng)頭研究員，也是另一個(gè)獨(dú)立的石油泄漏實(shí)驗(yàn)和淡水石油泄漏整治研究(森林)的項(xiàng)目帶頭人，他解釋道，用圍欄封閉住的部分湖區(qū)是一個(gè)很小范圍，傾倒的石油只限制在這個(gè)小范圍內(nèi)，而且還采取了另外四種控制措施防止傾倒的石油滲透污染到整個(gè)水體。

Still, even this smaller spill area will give scientists a much better idea of how bitumen behaves, and how it affects the environment, than what they are able to mimic indoors in alaboratory.

雖然圈著的泄漏實(shí)驗(yàn)區(qū)域很小，但相比實(shí)驗(yàn)室內(nèi)的模擬環(huán)境，科學(xué)家們能夠更有效地了解瀝青發(fā)生了哪些變化，以及如何影響環(huán)境。