The reason the whales come to the seas around Iceland is the abundance of krill.
鲸类们来到冰岛周边海域的原因是此处生活着大量的磷虾。
Krill are a small shrimp-like crustacean and can be found around all of the world's oceans.
磷虾是一种类似虾的甲壳动物,在全世界的海洋中都可以见到它们。
But the waters around Iceland are particularly fertile at this time of the year, a result of the warmth from the North Atlantic Gulf Stream mixing with icy waters of the Arctic Ocean.
然而每年的这个时候,冰岛周边海域的养分都非常充沛,这是温暖的北大西洋暖流与北冰洋冰冷的海水交汇的结果。
These nutrient rich waters create giant blooms of phytoplankton, the krill feed on the phytoplankton and their population soar, attracting the whales.
这些富含养分的海水使重要浮游植物的生长极为旺盛,磷虾以这些重要浮游植物为食,而它们数量的激增吸引来了鲸类。
In fact, the krill are so abundant, it's estimated that their sum weight exceeds that of all the humans on earth. Such numbers are essential when you are on the menu for the planet's largest creatures.
实际上,磷虾的数量非常充足,据估计,它们的总重量超过了地球上所有人类的重量总和。作为地球上体型最大动物的主食,这样的数量是极为重要的。
To consume their daily requirement of one and a half million calories, the blue whales can swallow up to forty million krill.
为了满足每天一百五十万卡路里的热量消耗,蓝鲸每天会吞下四千万只的磷虾。
Once digested, the waste is emitted. Known as marine snow, it's transported by deep water currents to a depth nearly one thousand meters to the ocean floor.
在经过消化后,残留物会被排出。这被称为“海洋雪”,它们随后被深海中的水流带到近一千米深的海底。
Down here, Iceland's volcanic origins give rise to life that goes against everything science thought possible.
在这,海底深处冰岛的火山之源却哺育了某些生命,这本是自然科学认为是不可能发生的现象。
These are hydro thermal vents and they spout a super heated cocktail of minerals and chemicals from deep within the earth crust. At temperatures up to four hundred degree Celsius.
这些是海底火山热液喷口,它们从地壳深处喷射出一种温度极高的矿物质和化学物质的混合物,其温度高达摄氏四百度。
而且从没有光线能照射到这样的深度。
These extreme conditions were once thought to prevent life, but heat loving organisms have been discoveredliving in this scalding vent fluid.
这些极端条件曾被认为会使生命无法生存,但目前已发现有嗜热生物生存在这些滚烫的喷射液中。
With no light to provide energy, these incredible bacteria are able to create their own from the chemicalsin the vent fluid.
因为没有光照提供能量,这些难以置信的细菌竟能从喷射液中的化学物质里合成能量。
These bacteria serve up a twenty four hour buffet for some remarkable species of shrimp.
这些细菌为某些不同寻常的虾类提供了24小时的食物。
Some have adapted to exist at such depth by actually collecting and growing the energy creating bacteria on their own bodies.
有些(细菌)实际上通过获取嗜热菌合成的能量,并将其转化为自身能量来适应在这样的深海生存。
Without the bacteria, the shrimp could not exist, so they must fight to remain close to the vents.
如果没有嗜热菌,这些虾类将无法生存,因此它们必须为留在喷射口附近而战。
This could be how our life and our planet began.
我们的地球与生命也许就是这样开始的。