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●北極科考團成員感染新冠病毒，任務遭推遲! | 國際北極漂流冰站計劃(MOSAiC)

Hoarfrost covers the snow where researchers cross a lagoon in Utqiavik, AK on April 9, 2019. The researchers were among a group gathered to prepare for the upcoming year-long MOSAIC expedition that will collect data on Arctic climate and ecosystems.

2019年4月9日，研究人員穿過阿拉斯加州烏恰維克的一個瀉湖時，積雪上結滿白霜。為了給即將到來的為期一年的北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAIC）科考探險做準備，研究人員們集合到了一起，此次科考探險將收集北極氣候和生態系統的相關數據。

The coronavirus outbreak has reached the Arctic—and is imperilling a massive international scientific project, after a team member tested positive for the virus.

新冠疫情的影響已經蔓延到北極地區，由於一名隊員病毒檢測呈陽性，疫情正危及到一項重大的國際性科考任務。

The mission, called MOSAiC, is operating from the German research vessel Polarstern, which has been intentionally frozen in Arctic sea ice since last October. From this ice-encrusted platform, a rotating cast of scientists and technicians are sampling the ice, atmosphere and ocean in an attempt to understand the intricacies of the rapidly changing Arctic climate.

這項名為北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）的科考任務是在德國考察船“北極星號”上進行的，該船自去年10月起主動駛入北極冰封海域。在這座冰封的科考平臺上，科學家和技術人員正在輪流採集冰層、大氣和海洋樣本，試圖探究北極氣候迅速變化的奧秘。

The team member who contracted the virus works on the airborne component of the expedition—a key part that has now been delayed to protect those on board the ship. This part of the mission will use scientific aircraft to take measurements around Polarstern to provide context for those taken at the ship.

感染新冠病毒的隊員隸屬於科考隊航空項目部，這是整個任務中的關鍵部分，科考任務中需要使用科考機對“北極星號”周圍進行測量，為船上的各種測試提供背景數據。但是為了保護船上其他人員，現在不得不推遲該部分任務。

About 20 members of the aircraft team are now quarantined in their homes under direction of the German health agencies, says Markus Rex, an atmospheric scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. Rex is the chief scientist of the MOSAiC mission.

作為北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）科考任務首席科學家，德國布雷默黑文阿爾弗雷德韋格納極地和海洋研究所大氣科學家馬庫斯·萊克斯說，現在大概有20名航空項目部成員在德國衛生部門的指導下在家進行自我隔離。

CLOSE QUARTERS

形勢嚴峻

To minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus, all team members who are scheduled to join MOSAiC—which stands for Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate—are tested for coronavirus before departing their homes for Svalbard, Norway, from where they leave for the ship. There, they are tested a second time before they are allowed to depart. The infected individual had been at a workshop in Bremerhaven on 5 March with other aircraft members; the first round of testing was done as part of this meeting.

為最大程度降低感染風險，所有計劃加入北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）科考任務的成員都要在離家前往挪威斯瓦爾巴特群島之前接受病毒檢測，之後他們將從該島出發登上“北極星號”，而在離島前，他們還要接受二次檢測。3月5日，該確診病例與其他航空部成員共同在布萊默黑文參加了一個研討會，他們在會上接受了第一輪病毒檢測。

The risk is that viruses can propagate extremely quickly on ships, says Lynne Talley, a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. “It’s very close quarters,” she says. And given the virus’s long incubation time, isolation measures may not be put in place quickly enough to make a difference on a research ship. “Suppose someone inadvertently does end up on the ship with this virus,” says Talley. “It would just pretty much take the entire ship.”

位於加州拉霍亞市斯克裡普斯海洋研究所的海洋物理學家林恩·塔利說，風險在於病毒可以在船上極其迅速地傳播，“形勢非常嚴峻。”考慮到該病毒的潛伏期長，隔離措施可能無法迅速到位，不能在船上發揮出作用。塔利說，“假設有人無意中攜帶了這種病毒，可能會傳染給全船的人。”

The MOSAiC infection comes after two major coronavirus outbreaks on at least two large cruise liners—the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan, and the Grand Princess, which was held until this week off the northern California coast.

此前，在北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）任務成員出現感染病例前，至少有兩艘大型郵輪曾經爆發群體性感染—鑽石公主號郵輪在日本橫濱被隔離了兩週，而至尊公主號郵輪在加利福尼亞北部海岸被隔離到本週。

QUARANTINE DELAY

隔離延誤

The air mission—now delayed until the quarantine is lifted—had been due to log its first flights on 12 March. It will depart from Svalbard through the Arctic, collecting different types of atmospheric data as well as information about conditions on the surface. Some team members will land on the ice near the ship to refuel—one way that the virus could spread among mission scientists if people are infected.

如今，該航空任務將被推遲至隔離結束，而該項任務原本計劃於3月12日進行首飛。飛機將從斯瓦爾巴特群島出發，穿過北極，收集不同類型的大氣數據以及關於地表情況的信息。一些小組成員將在“北極星號”附近的冰面上著陸加油—如果這時有人感染，病毒就可能通過加油期間的接觸在科學家之間傳播。

For now, the disruption to MOSAiC’s science objectives is minimal, says mission co-ordinator Matthew Shupe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, both in Boulder. But if further delays shrink the window for the airborne mission, says Shupe, “we’re going to decrease our frequency of catching the events that we want to see”.

位於博爾德市的科羅拉多大學和美國國家海洋和大氣管理局的大氣科學家、任務協調員馬修·舒普表示，到目前為止，北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）的科考目標還沒怎麼受到影響。但是他說，如果延長推遲時間將會縮短航空任務的觀測期，“我們觀測到目標事件的頻率將會降低。”

And as the outbreak continues to worsen around the world, more and more difficulties are likely to arise that could harm MOSAiC’s mission. “All of this is becoming very complicated,” Shupe says. “Every day is just a full-day scramble.”

同時，隨著疫情在全球範圍內愈演愈烈，可能出現更多影響到北極氣候研究多學科漂移觀測臺（MOSAiC）任務的不利因素。舒普表示，“所有情況都變得非常複雜棘手，每天都要從早忙到晚。”

Rex is confident that the protective measures that the team has put in place are effective. “It clearly shows that our concept to minimize the risk is a good one,” he says. “But it cannot be minimized to zero.”

萊克斯相信，他們採取的防護措施是有效的。他說:“顯而易見的是我們確實應該將感染風險降至最低，但是不管怎樣，風險依然存在。

文章出自海洋知圈

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關鍵字: 新冠 探險 傳染病

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