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The deep ocean holds a lot of CO2, and so it comes out and upwells up to the surface in the Southern Ocean and outgasses a lot of CO2.
深海中含有大量的二氧化碳，它会从南大洋浮出水面并释放出大量的二氧化碳。
If the Southern Ocean becomes iron-enriched, it could cause massive algal blooms that could draw down carbon as they spread, potentially helping slow down climate change.
如果南大洋变得富含铁元素，可能会导致大规模的藻类繁殖。随着藻类的扩散，它们会吸收碳，这有可能帮助减缓气候变化。
And so if you have phytoplankton that have iron there that are growing, they could reduce some of that outgassing.
因此，如果有浮游植物在那里生长，它们可以减少一些气体的释放。
And that is a much more important global effect on CO2 than any local effect.
而且这对二氧化碳的全球影响比任何局部影响都重要得多。
Like, it's not happening now, we don't think.
我们觉得，现在还没出现这种情况。
But it could, you know, in the future if the glaciers continue to melt.
但是未来如果冰川继续融化，是有可能发生这种情况的。
The last time something like this is thought to have happened was during the last glacial maximum, which occurred around 25,000 years ago.
人们认为上次发生类似的事情是在最后一次冰川期的高峰期，大约是25000年前。
Scientists think that during that time, the Southern Ocean received a lot of iron from dust blown in the wind, believed to have largely originated from deserts.
科学家认为，在那段时间里，南大洋从风中吹来的尘埃中获得了大量的铁，这些尘埃被认为主要来自沙漠。
Some researchers believe this iron made phytoplankton grow so much that it brought the carbon in the atmosphere down, contributing to global cooling.
一些研究人员认为，这种铁使浮游植物大量生长，从而降低了大气中的碳含量，导致全球降温。
But it's not time to get your coats yet!
但现在还远没有到那么冷的时候！
Scientists don't expect anything on this big of a scale to happen.
科学家们并不认为会发生如此大规模的事情。
Also, things are a little complicated. It's complicated.
另外，事情有点复杂。这很复杂。
You know, you would think that we understood everything that there would be to know.
你以为我们理解了所有需要知道的事情。
But there are a number of things that make iron itself one of the most complicated elements to understand.
但有很多东西让铁本身成为了最难理解的元素之一。
Like chocolate powder in cold milk, iron doesn't like to dissolve in water.
就像把巧克力粉加入冷牛奶中一样，铁并不会溶解在水中。
It tends to stick to particles it finds in the ocean-anything from rock powder and pieces of mud to dead microalgae.
它更容易粘附在海洋中的颗粒上--包括岩石粉末、泥土碎片、死亡的微藻等。
So those are particles that mostly sink to the bottom.
而这些颗粒大多数会沉入海底。
The average ocean's about 4,000 meters (about 13,000 feet) deep.
海洋的平均深度约为4000米（约13000英尺）。
It might take a small particle 15 years to get to the bottom, but it will get there, and most of the iron will accumulate in the sediments and not dissolve in the ocean.
一个小颗粒可能要经过15年才会沉到底部，但它终究会沉下去，所以大部分铁会积累在沉积物中，而不是溶解在海洋中。
When this happens, the iron is out of reach for phytoplankton, which live in the upper part of the ocean, where there is sunlight for photosynthesis.
当这种情况发生时，铁就无法被浮游植物所利用，浮游植物是生活在海洋上层的，那里有阳光方便进行光合作用。
The particles are what stand between iron coming out of the glaciers and the Southern Ocean.
这些颗粒物阻碍了从冰川中释放出来的铁抵达南大洋。
The particles in the water column adsorb that iron and prevent it from getting out.
海水中的粒子会吸附铁并阻止其逸出。
On the other hand, some bacteria and phytoplankton produce substances called ligands that can keep iron soluble in the water and make it available for them to use.
另一方面，一些细菌和浮游植物会产生一种叫做配体的物质，这种物质可以使铁在水中保持溶解状态，并让植物能够利用铁。
So the question is “Who will win this dispute over iron: the phytoplankton or the particles?”
那么问题是：“在这场夺铁之战中，谁会获胜：浮游植物还是颗粒？”
To answer that, the researchers on board the Palmer are measuring how fast particles in different regions of the Amundsen Sea sink, where they are and in what concentration they are found-and the same for the ligands.
为了回答这个问题，帕尔默号上的研究人员正在测量阿蒙森海不同区域的颗粒下沉速度、它们在哪里被发现、浓度如何--同时也对配体做了同样的研究。
And there's just not a lot of data about what the particle distribution is in the water column.
关于垂直水域中的颗粒分布情况，目前并没有很多数据。
So just the fact that we're getting all of these stations is really great because then we'll just have a much better idea of the distribution of particles throughout the water column, what kind of particles they are, and that'll let us better understand how much iron can get out.
所以，我们能建立这些站点就已经很好了，这样我们能更好地了解整个垂直水域中颗粒的分布情况，知道它们是什么类型的颗粒，从而知道有多少铁是我们可以释放出来的。
It will take some years for Phoebe and her colleagues to process all the data gathered during this cruise, put it into climate models and get a better idea of whether extra iron will cause some global climate effect.
菲比和她的同事们需要几年时间来处理这次航行中收集到的所有数据，将其输入气候模型，并更好地了解额外的铁是否会对全球气候产生影响。
And I must say, don't get your hopes up!
但我必须说，不要抱太大希望！
Even if phytoplankton win the dispute with particles over iron, researchers expect that the cooling they might provide would not be large enough to make a difference in human-caused global warming.
即使浮游植物在与颗粒争夺铁的竞争中获胜，研究人员预计，它们可能提供的降温效果也不足以对人类造成的全球变暖产生影响。
In the best-case scenario, with no particles and lots of these iron-binding ligands, I suspect the scale is not big enough to actually help.
在最好的情况下，没有颗粒，并且有大量与铁结合的配体，我觉得这个规模也不够大，无法起到降温作用。
It would slightly slow things down and might slightly change the evolution of things, but it does not solve our problem.
它或许能让全球变暖慢一点，或许会稍微改变事情的走向，但它并不能解决我们的问题。
And just to remind our listeners: What would solve the problem?
还要提醒一下我们的听众：什么能解决这个问题？
We need to stop emitting CO2. We need to come up with different ways of producing energy that don't emit CO2.
我们要停止排放二氧化碳。我们要想出各种不排放二氧化碳的能源生产方式。
So just make it clear, letting all the Antarctic ice melt is not the solution.
所以记住，让所有的南极冰融化并不是解决办法。
That's right. Letting all of the Antarctic ice melt is not the solution and will cause a lot of problems, such as sea-level rise, such as...
没错。让所有的南极冰层融化并不是解决办法，而且会引发很多问题，比如海平面上升。
Yes, it's not the solution.
是的，这不是解决方案。
Speaking of ice, the next episode will be all about it.
说到冰，下一集全是关于冰的内容。
We will embark on a hunt for sea ice with the scientists onboard the Palmer and hear about the researchers' special encounter with one of the Antarctic's most loved species: Adelie penguins-hundreds of them!
我们将与帕尔默号上的科学家们一起踏上寻找海冰的征程，听听研究人员与南极最受欢迎的物种之一阿德利企鹅的特殊相遇--数百只企鹅哦！
