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●北极科考团成员感染新冠病毒，任务遭推迟! | 国际北极漂流冰站计划(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，研究人员穿过阿拉斯加州乌恰维克的一个泻湖时，积雪上结满白霜。为了给即将到来的为期一年的北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAIC）科考探险做准备，研究人员们集合到了一起，此次科考探险将收集北极气候和生态系统的相关数据。

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

新冠疫情的影响已经蔓延到北极地区，由于一名队员病毒检测呈阳性，疫情正危及到一项重大的国际性科考任务。

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.

这项名为北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）的科考任务是在德国考察船“北极星号”上进行的，该船自去年10月起主动驶入北极冰封海域。在这座冰封的科考平台上，科学家和技术人员正在轮流采集冰层、大气和海洋样本，试图探究北极气候迅速变化的奥秘。

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.

感染新冠病毒的队员隶属于科考队航空项目部，这是整个任务中的关键部分，科考任务中需要使用科考机对“北极星号”周围进行测量，为船上的各种测试提供背景数据。但是为了保护船上其他人员，现在不得不推迟该部分任务。

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.

作为北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）科考任务首席科学家，德国布雷默黑文阿尔弗雷德韦格纳极地和海洋研究所大气科学家马库斯·莱克斯说，现在大概有20名航空项目部成员在德国卫生部门的指导下在家进行自我隔离。

CLOSE QUARTERS

形势严峻

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.

为最大程度降低感染风险，所有计划加入北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）科考任务的成员都要在离家前往挪威斯瓦尔巴特群岛之前接受病毒检测，之后他们将从该岛出发登上“北极星号”，而在离岛前，他们还要接受二次检测。3月5日，该确诊病例与其他航空部成员共同在布莱默黑文参加了一个研讨会，他们在会上接受了第一轮病毒检测。

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.”

位于加州拉霍亚市斯克里普斯海洋研究所的海洋物理学家林恩·塔利说，风险在于病毒可以在船上极其迅速地传播，“形势非常严峻。”考虑到该病毒的潜伏期长，隔离措施可能无法迅速到位，不能在船上发挥出作用。塔利说，“假设有人无意中携带了这种病毒，可能会传染给全船的人。”

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，在北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）任务成员出现感染病例前，至少有两艘大型邮轮曾经爆发群体性感染—钻石公主号邮轮在日本横滨被隔离了两周，而至尊公主号邮轮在加利福尼亚北部海岸被隔离到本周。

QUARANTINE DELAY

隔离延误

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，该航空任务将被推迟至隔离结束，而该项任务原本计划于3月12日进行首飞。飞机将从斯瓦尔巴特群岛出发，穿过北极，收集不同类型的大气数据以及关于地表情况的信息。一些小组成员将在“北极星号”附近的冰面上着陆加油—如果这时有人感染，病毒就可能通过加油期间的接触在科学家之间传播。

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”.

位于博尔德市的科罗拉多大学和美国国家海洋和大气管理局的大气科学家、任务协调员马修·舒普表示，到目前为止，北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）的科考目标还没怎么受到影响。但是他说，如果延长推迟时间将会缩短航空任务的观测期，“我们观测到目标事件的频率将会降低。”

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.”

同时，随着疫情在全球范围内愈演愈烈，可能出现更多影响到北极气候研究多学科漂移观测台（MOSAiC）任务的不利因素。舒普表示，“所有情况都变得非常复杂棘手，每天都要从早忙到晚。”

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.”

莱克斯相信，他们采取的防护措施是有效的。他说:“显而易见的是我们确实应该将感染风险降至最低，但是不管怎样，风险依然存在。

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