【觀察】|An ocean of things:人類對海洋還一無所知?

An ocean of things：人類對海洋還一無所知？| 雙語閱讀

來源：經濟學人·商論 經濟學人 2020-05-24

地球上海洋的面積是陸地的兩倍。然而海洋學家總愛吐槽說，科學對海洋的了解還不如對月球多。好消息是，這一點可能很快就將迎來改變。今天帶來《經濟學人·商論》五月刊文章《浩如煙海》（An ocean of things）中英雙語原文試讀，歡迎前往App聆聽原聲音頻。

Big wet data
水中大數據

An ocean of things
浩如煙海

Compared with the land, the seas are poorly monitored. That is about to change
相比陸地，人類對海洋的監測十分匱乏。這即將改變
THERE IS TWICE as much water on Earth as land. Oceanographers are nevertheless fond of saying that science knows less about the high seas than it does about the moon. If John Waterston gets his way, though, that could soon change.地球上海洋的面積是陸地的兩倍。然而海洋學家總愛吐槽說，科學對海洋的了解還不如對月球多。不過這可能很快就會改變，如果約翰·沃特斯頓（John Waterston）能夠如願以償的話。
Mr Waterston is the head of the 「Ocean of Things」 project at the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an American military think-tank that has helped develop everything from the internet to stealthy fighter planes. The project’s name is a play on the 「Internet of Things」, the awkward phrase which describes the trend for stuffing sensors and an internet connection into all manner of ordinary objects, from cars and toothbrushes to factory robots and doorbells. The Ocean of Things aims to likewise wire up the high seas with swarms of floating, connected sensors.沃特斯頓是美國軍事智庫國防部高級研究計劃局（DARPA）的「海基物聯網」（Ocean of Things）項目的負責人。DARPA參與研發的事物從網際網路到隱形戰鬥機無所不有。該項目的名稱套用了「物聯網」（Internet of Things）一詞，這個有點彆扭的詞描述了一種趨勢，即通過各種傳感器將汽車、牙刷、工業機器人、門鈴等形形色色的普通物品用網際網路連接起來。同樣，海基物聯網的目標是用大量漂浮的、互聯的傳感器把海洋連接起來。
Such devices are not in themselves new. There are around 6,000 floating sensors deployed around the world’s oceans, run by navies and research institutes. What is unprecedented is the scale of Mr Waterston’s ambition. Over the next few years he hopes to deploy 50,000 sensors across 1m square kilometres of sea, an area considerably larger than Texas. The eventual goal—much more distant—is to enable the continuous monitoring and analysis of a significant fraction of the world’s oceans.這樣的裝置本身並不新鮮。在世界各地的海洋中已經漂浮著大約6000個由各國海軍和研究機構布設的傳感器。但沃特斯頓的雄心之大前所未有。在接下來的幾年裡，他希望能在一百萬平方公裡（比德克薩斯州大很多）的海域內布設五萬個傳感器。而該項目的最終目標——儘管目前還遙不可及——就是能對全球相當一部分海域展開持續的監測和分析。
Peering into Neptune’s kingdomThe project’s main aim, mindful of the 「D」 in DARPA’s name, is tracking ships. But rather than building something that can do just one job, Mr Waterston wants the Ocean of Things to supply a wealth of other information, from water temperature to wave heights, weather conditions, nearby wildlife and more. All this would then be made freely available to scientific and commercial users.DARPA的這個項目主要是為了跟蹤船舶——畢竟它的名字中有個「D」（國防）。但沃特斯頓希望打造出的海基物聯網不止於此，還能提供水溫、浪高、天氣狀況、附近的野生生物等大量其他信息。所有這些信息屆時都將無償提供給科研和商業用戶。
Existing 「floating instrument packages」, known as floats or drifters, are often custom-built, and usually contain the highest-quality instruments available. They therefore tend to be expensive, and are bought only in small numbers. A typical existing float, designed for scientific research, is the Argo. It costs around $20,000, and can measure water temperature and salinity.現有的「浮式儀器包」，也就是所謂的浮標或漂浮物，大多是定製的，配備的通常也都是當前質量最好的儀器。因此它們往往價格不菲，採購量也比較小。目前最常見的就是用於科研的Argo浮標。它的造價大約2萬美元，可以測量水溫和鹽度。
The Ocean of Things takes the opposite approach. The aim is to cram as many cheap, off-the-shelf components as possible into a single low-cost package. Current float prototypes cost around $750, and Mr Waterston hopes that economies of scale could drive the cost down further. That would allow tens of thousands to be deployed without breaking the bank. Large numbers are crucial for coverage. They also help compensate for inaccuracies in individual instruments. 「Can a $5 sensor do the same things as a $1,000 temperature gauge?」 Mr Waterston asks rhetorically. 「The answer is 『yes』 if you have a lot of them, because you can cross-correlate. Maths solves the problem for you.」海基物聯網則反其道而行之。它儘可能多地使用便宜和現成的組件，打造低成本的儀器包。目前的浮標原型成本大概在750美元，沃特斯頓希望規模化生產還會進一步降低成本。這樣即使布設幾萬個浮標，花費也不至於太大。能大量部署浮標對擴大監測範圍至關重要，也有助於彌補個別儀器產生的誤差。「一個5美元的傳感器和一個1000美元的溫度計量器效果能一樣嗎？」沃特斯頓設問，「如果有很多個傳感器，那答案就是『一樣』。因為它們之間可以交叉關聯。數學能讓這個問題迎刃而解。」The project’s researchers are evaluating three designs from different manufacturers, ranging in size from about six to 18 litres. One, proposed by Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre, is made of glass, like a traditional Japanese fishing float. A second, from a firm called Areté Associates, has an aluminium shell, and uses wood for buoyancy. Both models feature solar panels. The third, made by a company called Numurus, is made of lacquered cardboard, and relies entirely on its batteries. All three are designed to last for a year or so and are made to be as environmentally friendly as possible, with minimal use of plastics. That is important because, at the end of their mission, the floats are designed to scuttle themselves.項目研究人員正在評估來自不同廠商的三種設計方案，大小從6升到18升不等。由施樂公司（Xerox）的帕洛奧多研究中心（Palo Alto Research Centre）提出的第一種設計用玻璃製作，像一個老式的日本魚漂。來自Areté Associates公司的第二種設計，用鋁製作外殼，使用木頭產生浮力。這兩者都採用太陽能板。第三種來自Numurus公司，由塗漆的硬紙板製成，完全依靠自帶的電池。三種設計的使用壽命都在一年左右，而且都儘量少用塑料，儘可能地環保。這一點很重要，因為根據設計，這些浮標在完成任務後會自沉海底。
Some of the instruments on offer are common to any smartphone—GPS sensors, accelerometers to detect motion, a compass, a microphone, temperature sensors and a camera. Others are more directly tailored for the job, such as an underwater microphone, a gizmo to measure the water’s conductivity (and therefore its salinity), and detectors to pick up radar and radio signals, including transmissions from marine anti-collision beacons. Some data from these instruments will be crunched on board, but most will be sent back to land in bursts, for onshore analysis. For now, that connectivity is provided by the Iridium network of geosynchronous satellites. But the modems necessary to talk to those satellites, says Mr Waterston, are the most expensive and power-hungry devices on the floats. He hopes that new, lower-flying satellite networks, currently being built by firms such as SpaceX and OneWeb, will provide cheaper alternatives.目前可使用的一些儀器在任何一部智慧型手機裡都能見到，如GPS傳感器、用於探測運動的加速度計、羅盤、麥克風、溫度傳感器和相機等。其他一些儀器則是為該項目定製的，如水下麥克風、用來測量水體導電性（進而可以測得鹽度）的小裝置，以及用來接收雷達和無線電信號（包括從海上防撞航標傳輸的信號）的探測儀。來自這些儀器的數據有一些會在船上被處理，大部分會被分批傳回陸地供分析。目前，這種傳輸連接由地球同步衛星組成的銥星網絡提供。但沃特斯頓表示，與這些衛星通信所需的數據機是浮標上最昂貴也最耗電的裝置。他希望，目前SpaceX和OneWeb等公司正在建造的新型低空衛星網絡能成為更加經濟的替代方案。
Having lots of different sensors will help the floats build the best possible picture of what is going on around them. For example, if the microphone picks up a sound at the same time as the accelerometer shows movement, it could mean that a bird has landed on the float. Several birds landing on several floats could show how a flock is moving. Their presence, in turn, might be an indicator of shoals of fish or other biological activity.擁有眾多不同類型的傳感器有助於浮標最大限度地了解周邊情況。例如，如果在加速度計顯示運動的同時，麥克風也接收到了聲音，那可能是有隻鳥停在了浮標上。停在多個浮標上的多隻鳥可能顯示一群鳥的運動軌跡。反過來，鳥的存在可能表示附近有魚群或其他生物活動。
Similarly, a ship sailing through a float field will leave all sorts of traces. It might be detected by its radio beacon, or its radar. It might sail close enough for a float to take a picture, or hear it on the hydrophone, or be disturbed by its wake. Correlating data from several floats will reveal the ship’s speed and direction. By building a database of such encounters, the project’s scientists hope to learn quickly how to tell different sorts of craft apart. Fishing vessels might be using fish-finding sonar or noisy trawl nets. A giant supertanker will sound different from a naval frigate.同樣，駛經浮標布設區域的船隻也會留下各種痕跡。或許可以通過船上的無線電信標或雷達探測到船隻。如果船行駛得足夠近，浮標可以對它拍照，通過水聽器能聽到船隻的聲響，或者浮標會受到船隻尾流的幹擾。將多個浮標提供的數據關聯在一起，就能顯示船隻的速度和方向。通過建立這種船隻與浮標相遇的資料庫，該項目的科學家希望能很快學會辨識不同種類的船舶。漁船可能使用尋魚聲納或嘈雜的拖網。巨型油輪發出的聲響又與海軍護衛艦不同。
The range of sensors on a float will also produce a mass of data of interest to oceanographers, meteorologists and biologists. The cameras and microphones on a field of floats could, for example, detect and track whales and dolphins. At the moment, whenever a marine mammal is spotted in the shipping lanes off Los Angeles harbour, one of the busiest in America, traffic is slowed down. Better tracking would allow traffic to be rerouted, benefiting both critters and commerce. Float fields could watch for illegal fishing, smuggling and icebergs. They could monitor and track oil spills and algal blooms.浮標上配備的各類傳感器還會產生令海洋學家、氣象學家和生物學家感興趣的大量數據。例如，一定區域內浮標上的攝像機和麥克風可以探測並跟蹤鯨和海豚。目前，在美國最繁忙的港口之一洛杉磯附近的航道上，只要發現海洋哺乳動物，船隻就會放慢速度。更強大的追蹤能讓船隻改變航線，這對生物和商業都有好處。浮標布設區域可用於監控非法捕魚、走私和冰山活動，也可以監測和跟蹤石油洩漏和藻華現象。
That, at least, is the long-term goal. So far, DARPA has bought around 4,500 floats, and has tested them only in small numbers. The next stage, starting this spring, will see fields of 1,000 at a time deployed in the Gulf of Mexico and in the waters off California. The plan is to deploy one float for every three square kilometres of ocean. The hope is that, as the technology matures, useful data could be gleaned from densities as low as one float per 20 square kilometres. With 361m square kilometres of ocean on the planet, a true Ocean of Things, monitoring everything on and under the water, would require about 18m floats. That will not happen for a while yet. But Mr Waterston’s plans are a start. 這至少是長期目標。迄今DARPA購買了約4500個浮標，而且只完成了小規模測試。下一階段，也就是從今年春天開始，它將在墨西哥灣和加州附近海域一次性布設1000個浮標。它計劃的布設密度是每三平方公裡一個浮標。DARPA希望，隨著技術的成熟，在把布設密度降低到每20平方公裡一個浮標的情況下，仍能收集到有用的數據。地球上海洋面積多達3.61億平方公裡，一個名副其實的、能監測海面和水下萬事萬物的海基物聯網將需要約1800萬個浮標。這在短期內還無法實現。但沃特斯頓的計劃拉開了序幕。

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