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It moves under the ice shelves, the parts of the glaciers that extend out and bob in the sea, like floating harbors made of ice.
它在冰架下移动，冰架是冰川延伸到海中并在海中上下浮动的那一部分，就像用冰制成的浮动港口。
Scientists think the warm water is silently eating up the ice from underneath, lapping it away bit by bit.
科学家们认为，温暖的海水正在从下方悄悄地吞噬冰层，一点一点地将其蚕食。
Rob Sherrell is an oceanographer at Rutgers University and another of the cruise's leaders.
罗布·谢雷尔是罗格斯大学的海洋学家，也是这次航行的另一位负责人。
He says he has seen the warm water's impact firsthand.
他说他已经亲眼目睹了温暖海水带来的影响。
When he visited this ice shelf in 2011, it looked pretty much straight all the way across.
他在2011年到访这个冰架时，它看起来几乎是笔直的。
But he returned a decade later to a new view.
十年后他再回来时，看到了全新的景象。
Two years ago when we were here, a little less than two years ago, we saw a huge difference, and that was that this sort of bay had formed.
两年前我们在这里的时候，其实还不到两年前，看到了一个巨大的变化，那就是这里已经形成了这种海湾。
A big chunk of the ice shelf was no longer there. It's like a bite had been taken out of it.
一大块冰架已经不复存在。它就像是被咬了一口。
If all the glaciers of West Antarctica were to melt, the average global sea level could rise by more than 17 feet, according to a 2023 study.
如果南极洲西部的所有冰川都融化，根据2023年的一项研究，全球平均海平面可能会上升超过17英尺（约5.2米）。
But unlike most people studying this area, the researchers on this cruise are not looking at sea-level rise.
但是，与大多数研究这个领域的人不同，这次航行的研究人员并没有关注海平面上升的问题。
This is a cruise full of chemists; they are armed with huge water-collecting instruments and fancy machines to filter water.
这是一艘满载化学家的游轮；他们配备了巨大的集水仪器和奇特的机器来过滤水。
They want to find out how glacial melting is changing the chemistry of the ocean-and that's important because a change in ocean chemistry here could affect everything from the food web to the global climate.
他们想弄清楚冰川融化是如何改变海洋的化学成分的--这很重要，因为这片海洋里的化学成分的改变可能会影响到从食物网到全球气候的一切。
We are the chemists that are looking for the changes that are happening because of that climate-induced glacial melt.
我们是化学家，正在寻找由于气候导致的冰川融化而发生的变化。
And then that will allow modelers to forecast how that will affect, you know, go in the future as more glacial melt happens.
这些研究结果能让建模者预测，随着更多冰川的融化，它会对未来的发展有何影响。
When glaciers melt they don't only release water into the sea; they dump different chemical elements that have been trapped in the ice for decades or even centuries.
冰川融化时，它们不仅会将水释放到海洋中；它们还会释放出被冻在冰中数十年甚至数百年的不同化学元素。
And while glaciers do move and undergo some melt naturally, climate change is intensifying that process.
虽然冰川确实会移动，而且会自然地经历一些融化，但气候变化正在加剧这一过程。
As they move they erode and scour the bedrock underneath, producing fine particles of rock that are carried away by meltwater.
随着它们的移动，会侵蚀并冲刷下面的基岩，从而产生细小的岩石颗粒，再被融化的水带进海洋中。
We call it glacial flour because if you dried out the sediment and picked it up, it would feel like very fine cake flour.
我们称之为冰川粉，因为如果你把沉积物烘干并收集起来，它摸起来就像非常细的蛋糕粉。
And this extra ingredient is changing the very composition of the ocean.
而这种额外的成分正在改变海洋的构成。
One of the elements the researchers are especially interested in is iron.
研究人员特别感兴趣的元素之一是铁。
Iron is one of the most abundant elements on Earth.
铁是地球上最丰富的元素之一。
It arrives naturally in Antarctica in windblown dust and is present in the bedrock underneath glaciers.
它天然存在于南极洲的风尘中，也存在于冰川下的基岩中。
But paradoxically, it's only found in incredibly small amounts in the ocean-particularly at the surface.
但矛盾的是，它在海洋中的含量极低，尤其是在海面。
One paperclip in, like, 26 Olympic-sized swimming pools is how much iron there is.
在一片大约相当于26个奥运会标准游泳池的海域里，铁含量只有一个回形针那么大。
And that's a big deal because iron is critical to marine life.
这关系重大，因为铁对海洋生物至关重要。
Microscopic organisms called phytoplankton need it to grow.
被称为浮游植物的微观生物需要铁才能生长。
And phytoplankton sustain the whole ocean food web.
而浮游植物维系着整个海洋的食物网。
They serve as food for one of Antarctica's most important species: Antarctic krill, a crustacean that looks like a shrimp.
它们是南极洲最重要的物种之一的食物：南极磷虾，一种看起来像虾的甲壳类动物。
In turn, krill feed all sorts of animals, from fish and penguins to seals and whales.
反过来，磷虾又是各种动物的食物，包括鱼类、企鹅、海豹和鲸鱼。
Scientists believe hundreds of trillions of krill live in the ocean surrounding Antarctica.
科学家认为，数以百万亿计的磷虾生活在南极洲周围的海洋中。
Some researchers estimate that a crabeater seal feasts on 11,000 krill a day, while a single Adélie penguin can gobble up 1,000 of these creatures on a daily basis.
一些研究人员估计，食蟹海豹每天会享用11000只磷虾，而一只阿德利企鹅每天可以吞食1000只磷虾。
Now, the waters of the Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica, are normally very low in iron, so phytoplankton growth is limited here.
现在，环绕南极洲的南大洋水域通常铁含量非常低，因此这里的浮游植物生长受到了限制。
But where there is iron, they thrive.
但是，只要有铁，它们就会茁壮成长。
And the Amundsen Sea is one of those special places.
而阿蒙森海就是那些特殊的地方之一。
The phytoplankton blooms here are so intense that satellites can see them from space.
这里的浮游植物大量繁殖，太空中的卫星都能看到它们。
Researchers on the Palmer are investigating what is happening to the ocean as glacial meltwater enriches the Amundsen Sea with iron.
帕尔默号上的研究人员正在调查，随着冰川融水给阿蒙森海带来丰富的铁元素，海洋正在发生什么变化。
