Walrus counting 利用衛星圖像統計海象數量

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學習要點

有關 “walrus（海象）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

How many images of walruses have been put onto the WWF UK website?

文字稿

Huge, blubbery and a bit grumpy. Walruses are easy enough to spot. But thanks to their remote Arctic location, they’re hard to count, and we don’t know how many of these giant beasts there are.

大塊頭，胖嘟嘟，還有點性情乖戾。海象很容易被發現，但由於它們住在偏遠的北極地區，所以很難統計其數量，我們也不知道究竟有多少這種體型龐大的動物。

Now, using satellite images, the plan is to locate every Atlantic and Laptev Sea Walrus, and scientists say this is essential, because climate change means these animals are under threat.

如今，這個計劃旨在利用衛星圖像定位每一隻大西洋海象和拉普捷夫海象，科學傢表示這是必要的，因為氣候變化意味著這種動物受到瞭威脅。

Peter Fretwell, British Antarctic Survey
The sea ice on which they live most of the year is rapidly diminishing and they are having to change their behaviour and come out onto land much more often. That’s almost certainly got some detrimental effect on them, but we’re not sure how much their population is being affected by that. Hopefully, this project will tell us that important information.

彼得·弗雷特韋爾英國南極調查局
“海象一年中大部分時間賴以生存的海冰正在迅速縮減，所以它們不得不改變行為，更頻繁地到陸地上。幾乎可以肯定，這對海象產生瞭不利影響，但我們不確定到底有多少海象受到瞭影響。但願這個項目能夠提供這個重要的信息。”

Rebecca Morelle, AYYBLOG correspondent
We’ve been taking images of the Earth from space for more than 60 years, but our view has changed dramatically. In the 1980s, satellites could only see objects 30 metres in size, but they quickly improved and a few years later, they could see features ten metres across.

麗貝卡·莫雷爾 AYYBLOG通訊員
“60多年以來，我們一直在從太空中拍攝地球的圖像，但視野發生瞭巨大的變化。在80年代，衛星隻能拍到30米大小的物體，但很快就得到瞭改進，幾年以後就可以看清直徑10米大小的特征。

Today, though, the most advanced imaging satellites can see details down to just 30 centimetres. And this has transformed our view of the natural world.

如今，最先進的成像衛星甚至能看到30厘米的細節。這徹底改變瞭我們對自然界的看法。”

Even at that resolution, counting walruses is still a challenge. So the scouts in East Molesey have been drafted in to help. The first job, scouring through a search area of 25,000 square kilometres, to find any images that have a walrus in.

即便是在這個清晰度，統計海象數量仍是一項挑戰。因此，英格蘭東莫西的童子軍被征召來幫忙。他們的第一項任務是在2萬5千平方公裡的搜索區域內認真尋找任何有海象的圖像。

It’s quite hard because there is like, rusty barrels and rocks that look really similar.

“這並不容易，因為圖像裡有生銹的桶和巖石，它們看起來跟海象很相似。”

It’s kind of a challenge as well because they’re all hidden, and you have to try and search for them.

“這項任務挺難的，因為它們都藏瞭起來，所以得仔細找才行。”

But the project is going to need a lot more people to help with the count.

然而，這個項目需要更多的人來幫忙計數。

Rod Downie, Chief Polar Advisor WWF
We’ve loaded up more than 600,000 images onto the ‘walrus from space’ platform, which you can access through the WWF UK website, and we’re calling on at least half a million people to help us search for and then count walrus on the platform.

羅德·唐尼世界自然基金會首席極地顧問
“我們已經向 ‘太空觀測海象’ 平臺上傳瞭60多萬張圖像，你可以通過世界自然基金會的英國網站訪問，我們希望能號召至少50萬人來幫我們在這個平臺上尋找並統計海象。”

The future is uncertain for this icon of the Arctic. Their icy home is changing faster than anywhere else on the planet. But now with satellite technology and the help of the public, we should finally find out how many walruses there are, and see how they fare in the years to come.

這種北極的象征動物前途未卜。它們冰冷的傢園正以比地球其它地方都要快的速度發生變化。但現在，在衛星技術和公眾的幫助下，我們應該總算可以統計出海象的數量，並瞭解它們未來的生存狀況。