The icy camp where polar bears roam
北极科考：在北极熊的冰雪家园里安营扎寨

When the polar bears visit for the first time, they show a magnetic curiosity towards the ship. In their almost featureless and frozen home, we have arrived as a vast, colourful and pungent intruder. Even to the human nose, the odorous fog of diesel, cigarettes, disinfectant and cooking can be overwhelming. To the bears – whose noses are so sensitive that they can smell a seal from a mile away – it must be extraordinary.

北极熊第一次来访的时候，对我们的船显示出一种压抑不住的强烈好奇心。在北极熊栖息的这一大片白茫茫冰冻天地中，我们驾船而来，无异是色彩鲜艳而又刺鼻的庞然大物入侵。即使对人的鼻子而言，船上柴油、香烟、消毒剂和烹饪产生的气味也会让人受不了。对熊来说，这一切更为特别，因为它们的鼻子非常敏感，一英里外就能闻到海豹的气味。

We are visiting their home on the sea ice of the Central Arctic as part of the Mosaic expedition, which intends to spend a year attached to an ice floe to study the constantly changing environment around the North Pole. The ship we arrived on has embedded itself deep inside the ice with the aim of drifting with it for the next 12 months.

作为“马赛克科学考察队”计划的一部分，我们将探访北极熊在北极中部浮冰上的家。马赛克科考队计划在一块巨大浮冰上考察一年，研究北极周围不断变化的环境。我们所乘坐的这艘破冰船到达这块浮冰区域后将船身深深地嵌入冰中，与其冻结在一起，在接下来的12个月里与这块浮冰一起漂流。

A mother and her cub approach the ship at the end of the second week of the expedition. They stop a couple of metres away from where the hull has broken the ice into shards and slush. The adult looks directly up at us and cranes her head back, nudging the air as she sniffs. Her cub does the same and then hides behind her, peeking around her back legs at us.

在我们探险的第二周结束时，一头母熊带着她的幼仔靠近了我们的破冰船。母熊和幼仔在离船身破冰时形成的碎冰和混浊海水几米远的地方停下来。那头母兽直视着我们，仰起头，轻轻嗅了嗅空气。她的幼崽也有样学样，然后躲在母兽后面，从母亲的后腿后面偷窥着我们。

Several times the cub hurries away a little, growling, seemingly trying to draw its mother off. When she doesn’t move, the cub hesitates, waits and then runs back to burrow into the fur of her belly. The mother appears to be transfixed.

有几次，这只幼崽匆忙跑开了一下，咆哮着，似乎想把它的母亲拉走。但母熊不愿离开，幼熊有些犹豫，等了一下，然后又跑回来，钻进母熊的肚腹下面。母熊似乎被她眼前所见的一切惊呆了。

For many on this expedition to the Central Arctic, including me as one of the few journalists on board, it is our first time seeing a polar bear. Scientists line up on the bridge and the bow, pointing cameras like paparazzi. After about half an hour of watching the bears watching us, one of the ship’s helicopters takes off and flies low overhead to frighten them away. They lumber off with a fast but ungainly gait. We watch their retreat for another 10 minutes, until they become yellowish specks ambling on the horizon.

对这次北极中部探险的许多人来说，包括我这个船上为数不多的记者之一，这是第一次看到北极熊。科学家们站在舰桥和船头上，就像狗仔队一样排成一行，举着摄像机对着这对北极熊母子。大家观察这对熊母子如何观察我们大约半个小时之后，船上的一架直升机起飞，低空略过，把北极熊母子吓跑了。他们以快速而笨拙的步态蹒跚奔去。我们又观察了10分钟，直到这对母子变成远在天边的淡黄色斑点。

Although all on board are very interested in the bears, the animal’s interest in us is not a good sign for the expedition. The scientists have found an unusual piece of ice, which they call the “fortress”, that seems capable of supporting their expedition over the next year. They have moored their ship, the German icebreaker Polarstern, to the ice and hope it will remain frozen in the floe as it drifts up towards the North Pole. With luck the floe will then carry them down towards the Fram Strait, emerging between Greenland and Svalbard in autumn 2020.

虽然船上的人都对北极熊很感兴趣，但北极熊对我们也相当感兴趣却并不是一个好兆头。为了这次考察，科学家们找到了这块巨大而独特的浮冰，他们称之为“堡垒”，认为此浮冰之坚实足以支撑他们的科学考察持续到下一年。他们已经将这艘德国破冰船“北极星号”系泊在冰面，希望在浮冰向北极极心漂移之时，“北极星号”仍能与浮冰冻结在一起。如果幸运的话，“浮冰”将在2010年秋天把北极星号带到格陵兰岛和斯瓦尔巴群岛之间的弗拉姆海峡。

As the scientists start to move their equipment and build the camp where they will live over the next year on the ice, visiting polar bears will become a major risk. From the safety of the ship they might be a curious distraction from daily duties, down there within claws’ reach, they are extremely dangerous.

科学家们开始从破冰船搬出各种设备，建造他们明年将在冰上生活的大本营，好奇的北极熊将成为一个主要的危险。置身安全的船上，北极熊只可能让人好奇分心，无法专注于日常工作，但置身在这些北极熊爪子可达的范围内，将会非常之危险。

Protecting the expedition from bears will be a difficult task. Killing polar bears is strictly regulated in the Arctic. The powerful animals are listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature – they hunt seals on the Arctic sea ice, which is diminishing due to climate change. On expeditions like this, killing a bear should only be a last resort, if someone’s life is at risk.

保护科学考察队不受北极熊的伤害将是一项艰巨的任务。在北极，捕杀北极熊是受到严格管制的。这种猛兽已被国际自然保护联盟列为濒临灭种的物种。北极熊在北冰洋的浮冰上捕猎海豹生存，但由于气候变化，北冰洋浮冰正在减少。像这样的北极科考探险，如果有人受到北极熊攻击，有生命危险，将熊杀死应该是最后迫不得已的选择。

Nevertheless, everyone on the expedition needs to be vigilant for approaching bears when people are on the ice. I take my turn on bear watch while on the bridge of the Akademik Fedorov, the Russian supply vessel that has accompanied Polarstern to the Arctic to assist in setting up the Mosaic camp. From my vantage point, it is possible to see up to 40km (25 miles) on a clear day.

然而，当人们在冰上活动时，科学考察队中的每个人都需要对接近的北极熊保持警惕。我在“费多罗夫院士号”（Akademik Fedorov）的舰桥上轮班观察北极熊的出没。 从我所处的高度，如天气晴朗，可以看到40公里（25英里）远的地方。费多罗夫号是一艘俄罗斯补给船，伴随“北极星号”前往北极，协助建立“马赛克”（Mosaic）科学考察营地。

All around us there is solid ice, much of it flat and covered with a thin blanket of fresh snow, with a few crumbling ridges around a metre (3ft) or so high visible further away. We have moored the ship alongside a large floe about 10km (six miles) away from Polarstern to set up a remote sensing site, which will become one of the three main outposts of the camp.

船的周围都是坚硬的冰，大部分都是平整的，上面覆盖着一层薄薄的新雪，在更远的地方还能看到一些大约一米（3英尺）高的碎冰脊。我们将费多罗夫号停泊在离北极星号约10公里（6英里）远的一块巨大浮冰旁，准备建立一个遥感观察站，这将成为大本营的三个主要前哨观察站之一。

Close to the ship on the starboard side, a polar bear guard stands on a flattened ridge. He wears a dark blue and fluorescent green ice suit with white reflective stripes, a rifle slung over his shoulder. A couple of hundred metres away another guard stands on look out. Next to the ship, scientists manoeuvre a large yellow buoy onto the ice from the bow by crane, before heaving it onto a sledge and pulling it away by skidoo. I try not to get distracted by the activity, or the twinkling lights of Polarstern just visible on the horizon.

靠近船的右舷，一个预防北极熊的警卫站在一个平坦的冰脊上。他穿着深蓝色和荧光绿色的冰雪服，上面有白色的反光条纹，肩上挎着一支步枪。几百米开外，另一个卫兵站岗观望。在船的旁边，科学家们用起重机把一个巨大的黄色浮标从船头吊到冰上，然后放上雪橇，用skidoo牌子的雪上摩托车拖走。我尽量不被这些活动，以及在天边隐约可见的北极星号闪烁的灯光所分心。

The first quarter of my two-hour watch goes quickly. There is nothing but ice to see for miles around, but the closer you look, the more details appear. Between stretches of flat ice are areas where it has crumpled into long ridges. Some ridges are old, weathered and covered with snow – they look like perfect mountain ranges in miniature. Other ridges are freshly formed, with a more jagged, rocky look, like blocks of ice have been brushed into a long, chaotic heap.

我轮班的两个小时观察里，头15分钟很快过去。方圆几英里内除了冰,还是冰，但你认真仔细看，就会发现很多细节。在平坦的长条冰层之间，是被挤压出来的冰脊。有些冰脊年代久远，饱经风霜，上面覆盖着积雪，看起来就像完美山脉的缩影。有的冰脊则是新形成的，看起来更像锯齿状的岩石，就像一堆堆的冰块胡乱地堆成一长条。

Occasionally, it is also possible to spot lone, irregularly shaped lumps of ice. They are easiest to spot by their shadows in this bright, white landscape. It is these monoliths of ice that occupy me the most. Is that shadow just a low outcrop of ice, or is it the curve of a polar bear’s back? Is that trio of dark specks the shade cast by a jumble of ice, or are they a nose and a pair of eyes? I start second-guessing myself, seeing movement and bear faces where there are none, regularly raising and lowering my binoculars, turning away and then looking back to see if the shadows still seem bear-like.

偶尔，也有可能发现单独的、形状不规则的冰块。在这片明亮的白色原野中，因为有阴影最容易被发现。我最留意的就是这些冰块。那阴影是一块露出水面的冰? 还是北极熊背部的曲线? 这三个黑点是一团冰的阴影，还是熊的鼻子和眼睛? 我开始怀疑自己的观察，在没有熊的地方看到了熊的动作和熊的脸，我经常举起和放下望远镜，转过身去，定定神，然后再回头看看影子是否仍然像一只熊。

If I do see a bear, my job as a bear-watcher is simple – alert the officer of the watch immediately, who can then radio down to the people on the ice. For a bear guard, who is out on the ice as the first line of defence, the first reaction is also to tell the bridge – but after that, it can go a number of ways.

如果我真的是看到了熊，作为一个防熊哨兵，我的工作很简单，立即通知值班人员，值班人员则可以马上用无线电向浮冰上的营地的人报警。而在浮冰上充当第一道防线的防熊守卫，第一反应也是告诉北极星号的舰桥。随后，有多种方式处理。

“We cannot really have action cards for first you do that and then you do this,” says Trude Hohle, one of Mosaic’s dedicated polar bear guards. “You really have to see the situation and see how the polar bear is reacting, how far away it is, how is the weather, do we have bad visibility, all of these things.”

马赛克科学考察队防备北极熊的警卫特鲁德·霍尔说，“我们真的没有行动提示卡，指示你第一步做什么,然后第二步怎么做。你能做的就是见机行事，要看北极熊如何反应，离我们有多远，天气怎么样，能见度好不好，所有这些都需考虑。”

If the bear is far away, Hohle might not have to do anything. It could just be that it’s walking past, she says, and poses no danger to people. But if it does show an interest in the human activity, Hohle has a range of options. The first is flares that she can shoot into the air to frighten the bear away. But they are only useful over a close range.

如果熊离得很远，霍尔可能什么都不用做。她说，它可能只是路过，对人们没有危险。但如果它确实对人类活动感兴趣，霍尔有一系列的选择。第一个是她可以向空中发射信号弹把熊吓跑。但这只能是熊在近距离才有效。

“A bear won’t be scared when it is 500m (0.3 miles) away,” she says. “The flares will stop at 100 to 150m (330-490ft) and that won’t do anything.” If it is up close, then a flare is usually enough to scare away a bear, says Hohle. But it depends on the bear.

她说，“熊如果在500米(0.3英里)外是吓不跑的。信号弹的威慑力最远只到100至150米（330-490英尺），超出这个距离就不起作用。”霍尔说，如果距离很近，那么一次信号弹的闪光通常足以吓跑一头熊。不过是否真的起作用还要因熊而论。

If the bear is close, then retreating to safety is the preferable option. But if that is not possible, it’s the bear guard’s job to ensure the group’s safety.

如果熊离人很近，那么撤退到安全的地方是更好的选择。但如果做不到，这就靠防熊警卫的工作来保证整个考察队的安全。

“What I do when I’m polar bear guarding in general is that I imagine all kinds of scenarios,” says Hohle. “It’s not to scare myself, it’s just to be prepared. So I think, ‘OK now I’m standing here, what if a polar bear comes from that direction? Do I have a good background if I need to shoot at it? Is it a safe background? If someone breaks their leg, where is the closest first aid kit or where is the sled that I can pull them back to? If someone falls in the water…?’ These scenarios go through my head all the time, so I’m prepared. It’s not to be paranoid, but it’s just that I’ve gone through it already and then it is for me easier to act.”

霍尔说，“当我在防备北极熊来攻击人的时候，我通常会想象各种各样的可能场景。这不是吓唬自己，只是做好精神准备。所以我会想，‘好吧，现在我站在这里，北极熊会来自哪个方向? 如果我需要射杀它，我是否有好的退路? 是否安全? 如果有人摔断了腿，最近的急救箱在哪里? 我能把他们拉回来的雪橇在哪里？如果有人掉进水里……？’这些场景一直萦绕在我的脑海中，所以我做好了准备。我不是多疑，只是我已经考虑过了，这样我就更容易采取行动。”

The last recourse if there is no other option is a rifle. “The weapon is for killing the polar bear,” says Hohle. “Generally, I would draw an imaginary line and say to myself, if the polar bear crosses that line, then it is unfortunately a dead polar bear – which is what we want to avoid at all costs.”

如果没有其他选择，迫于无奈,最后只好使用步枪。霍尔说，“这个武器就是用来杀死北极熊的。一般来说，我会画一条想象的线，然后对自己说，如果北极熊越过这条线，那么很不幸，它就是一只死了的北极熊。不过这个结局是我们无论如何都要避免的。”

There is a strong respect for the bears among the guards, Hohle says. There is acknowledgement that we are the ones intruding into the bears’ habitat, not the other way around. If scientific equipment is at risk from bears – which is very likely to happen at some point – then that’s an unfortunate loss for the scientists, but the animal is more important, Hohle says. “You know, things are things. They don’t have an intrinsic value as people and wildlife do.”

霍尔说，负责防熊的警卫对北极熊都很尊重。大家承认，是人类入侵了熊的栖息地，而不是北极熊侵犯人类。霍尔说，如果科学设备受到熊的威胁，这是很可能发生的事，对科学家来说是一个不幸的损失，但是相比科学仪器，北极熊更重要。“你知道，就事论事,科学设备不像人和野生动物具有一种内在的价值。”

The ice camp is also to be protected by a tripwire that will be set up around the main perimeter. When a polar bear walks into this, the idea is that it will trigger a flare to scare the animal away. “I don’t trust the tripwire alone, but it’s a nice back up,” says Verena Mohaupt, logistics lead for the expedition. “When it comes to the whole safety issue, you just put up as many barriers as you can.”

科学考察队的冰上营地四周还将架设一道绊网，北极熊一走进，就会因触发绊网发出闪光被吓跑。考察队后勤负责人维勒娜·摩浩普特（Verena Mohaupt）说，“我不相信光是绊网就可以起到防卫作用，但绊网是一个很好的辅助东西。涉及到整个安全问题，你必须尽可能地设置多道障碍。”

Throughout my bear watch, I think about what Hohle has told me. I try to keep myself focused – a lot of people’s lives could depend on spotting a bear as early as possible. But no polar bears come to the floe while I am on watch.

我在监视北极熊的时候，一直在想霍尔给我说的话。我试着让自己集中注意力不要多想，因为很多人的生命安全就在于当熊一出现就能及时发现。不过我在监视的时候，没有北极熊来到这块浮冰。

When my two hours are up, I hand my binoculars over to the next person to keep a lookout. They will be the one watching over me as I go out onto the ice.

两个小时过后，我把望远镜交给下一个人去把风。当我走到冰面上时，望远镜也会一直关注着我。

Stepping off the Fedorov’s wobbling metal gangway, it’s surprisingly easy to forget that there is only 30cm (1ft) of frozen water between the soles of my boots and bitterly cold, Arctic Ocean that is 4km (2.5 miles) deep. If you brush away the snow, the ice is rough and bumpy. It has a blue-black colour that is scuffed with white from the snow. I try giving it a cautious kick – it feels like kicking concrete.

走下费多罗夫号摇摇晃晃的金属舷梯，踩在浮冰上，我很容易忘记我的靴子底和冰冷的北冰洋之间只有30厘米（1英尺）厚的结冰海水的间隔，这30厘米之下就是深达4公里的北冰洋。刨去冰层上的雪，显露出来的是崎岖不平的冰面。冰层是深蓝色，上面有白色的雪渍。我试着小心地踢了一下冰面，感觉就像踢到了混凝土一样。

Reassured, I join the scores of people trudging around the floe, most wearing bright red insulated suits with reflective bands, black snow boots and layers of gloves, hats and scarves. It is already -18C (0F), with temperatures set to drop further in the next few days.

我放下心来，加入了在这块浮冰上行动的几十人队伍，我们大多穿着带有反光带的亮红色隔热服，黑色雪地靴，一层层的手套、帽子和围巾。现在已经是零下18摄氏度，未来几天气温还会进一步下降。

Today is the last time that the Sun will rise here this year, and the expedition party has a short window to stud this empty piece of ice with a complex array of remote sensing instruments that will measure the properties of the ice, ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems and biogeochemistry of this difficult-to-study region. The measurements taken during Mosaic – the most extensive Arctic expedition there has ever been – will provide the clearest picture to date of how the region around the North Pole is responding to climate change.

今天是太阳在这个纬度地区最后一天升起，此后这块浮冰将迎来无止尽的黑夜，因此科学考察队只有很短时间使用一系列复杂的遥感仪器考察这一冰封海洋，测量这个极难作科学考察的区域之冰层、冰层下的海洋、大气、生态系统和生物地球化学方面的数据。“马赛克”科考计划是人类有史以来最广泛的北极考察，上述所有测量将提供迄今为止关于北极周围地区如何应对气候变化的最清晰的图像。

Finding suitable floes to set up the instruments on has been far from straightforward. On the satellite images that the team pored over throughout the summer, there were plenty of dark patches that they thought indicated a thick, stable platform of ice. The reality, however, has been worrying the scientists on board. Instead of firm, thick ice floes, they have encountered fragile thin and rotten ice.

马赛克北极科考计划要找到一块巨大坚实的合适浮冰来设立营地，以便使用这些昂贵而又尖端的科学仪器，这远非易事。研究小组仔细研究了整个夏天的北极卫星图像，发现大量的暗斑，他们认为这些暗斑表明这些位置的浮冰应该厚实而稳定。然而，当北极星号抵达暗斑海域，科学家不禁为他们看到的实际场面而困恼。他们遇到的不是坚硬、厚实的浮冰，而是脆弱、稀薄、正在融化的冰。

“Honestly, when we just breezed through the slushy ice day after day I thought, ‘Woah,’” says Tim Stanton, who is leading the set-up of Mosaic’s outer network. “It was looking very, very grim.”

马赛克计划对外网络的负责人蒂姆·斯坦顿（Tim Stanton）说，“说实话，当我们的船日复一日轻易地穿过融化的冰面时，我想，‘天啦，’这看上去非常、非常可怕。”

The difficulty in finding thick floes was due to the extremely warm summer throughout much of the northern hemisphere this year, he says. These heatwaves were made more probable by climate change. “I think it’s unsurprising that the ice is so rotten,” says Stanton.

他说，找到厚实浮冰很困难是由于今年北半球大部分地区的夏季非常温暖。这些热浪很有可能是气候变化造成的。斯坦顿说：“我认为浮冰如此脆弱易碎并不奇怪。”

Even so, there are still some floes that are capable of supporting the expedition outposts. The one I have stepped onto is among the better ones. I watch two engineers drill a hole through it to deploy a large and complicated buoy called an ice-tethered profiler.

即便如此，仍有一些浮冰能够支撑科学考察队设立室外科考站。我脚下踩上的这块浮冰是比较坚实的。我看到两名工程师在冰上钻了一个洞，然后在洞里部署了一个称为“系在冰上的分析仪”的巨大且非常复杂的浮标。

The instrument will dangle in the water to take detailed measurements of the conditions in the upper portion of the ocean between 5m (16ft) to around 750m (2,460ft). They will help to assess the ocean currents, temperature and salinity. The buoy’s GPS position will also help to track its drift. Understanding how eddies and currents bring heat to the ice and influence melting is an essential part of the energy balance in the Arctic. Knowing this can help to unravel how and when Arctic sea ice melts.

这个仪器将悬挂在海水中，详细测量海洋上部5米（16英尺）到750米（2,460英尺）深的这一层海水的数据。其测得数据将有助于评估北冰洋的洋流、温度和盐度资料。该浮标的GPS定位也将有助于跟踪浮冰的漂移轨迹。因此能了解涡流和洋流是如何给北极浮冰带来热量并影响冰的融化，而这一过程是北极能量平衡的重要组成部分。了解这一点有助于了解北极海冰是如何以及何时融化的。

Instrument-laden buoys like these are being deployed in a wide area around Polarstern, tens of kilometres away in some cases. But putting an ice-tethered profiler, which weigh 700kg (1,543lbs) each, into the ocean is a particularly delicate operation.

像这样装有仪器的浮标将放置在北极星号周围广阔的海域，有些仪器甚至安装在破冰船的几十公里之外。但是，将每个重达700公斤（1543磅）的“系冰分析仪”放入海洋是一项特别精细的操作。

The engineers use a 24-inch drill, suspended from a tripod, to cut down into the ice. In little more than a minute, freezing water rushes up through the hole and over their ankles. It’s quite common to end up with wet feet. Another scientist uses a metal ladle to fish out the slush at the top of the hole so they can see if there’s anything down there that could block a deployment. It’s not always easy to see, but unexpected outcrops of ice below the surface – known as false bottoms – can wreck a buoy.

工程师们用一个悬挂在三脚架上的24英寸的钻头来凿开冰层。在一分钟多一点的时间里，冰冷的水从洞里涌出来，漫过了他们的脚踝。脚被打湿是很常见的事。另一位科学家用一个金属勺从洞的顶部舀出碎冰，以便他们观察下面是否有什么东西会阻碍安装仪器。要看穿冰洞并非总是轻而易举的事，如果下面的海水中有意外的坚冰露头，即所谓的假底，会使得浮标仪器受损。

On one of the other sites, Stanton comes across just this problem. After large holes are drilled to deploy the buoys, Stanton checks them for a false bottom – but they all appear to be fine. But then he lowers a buoy to measure upper-ocean properties into the hole. He can tell it starts to bump into something. The team pulls it back up quickly and the instrument – which costs close to $100,000 (£77,340) and weighs 480kg (1,058lbs) along with its deployment apparatus – isn’t damaged, but it was a very close call.

斯坦顿曾在另一个营地遇到过这个问题。在钻了几个大洞来放置浮标仪后，斯坦顿检查了冰洞,看是否有假底,但看起来都很好。但随后他放置了一个浮标仪器下去，此仪器是用来测量上层海水的属性。他察觉到仪器好像撞到了什么东西。研究小组迅速把仪器拉了上来，所幸这台价值近10万美元（77,340英镑）、重480公斤（1,058磅）的仪器连同其安装部件都没有损坏，但这真是千钧一发的险状。

“Thank god we caught it, because otherwise everything would have gone clunk, clunk, clunk over that edge and it would have damaged stuff for sure,” says Stanton.

斯坦顿说：“谢天谢地，我们抓住了浮标仪器，否则所有的东西肯定会在坚硬的边缘处不断乒乒乓乓碰撞，这肯定会撞坏一些东西。”

The array of autonomous instruments being set up here – measuring a range of environmental physical and biological processes – will transmit data via a satellite to teams back on land thousands of miles away as well as to Polarstern. Unlike much of Mosaic’s central camp, the scientists won’t be able to reach these outposts easily to check up on the instruments – perhaps just visiting once a month to resupply their fuel. This means that the set-up phase at these outposts is even more crucial – if one of the instruments isn’t working now, it will be much harder to fix after the Fedorov has left.

安装在这里的一系列自动测量仪器会测量北冰洋的物理和生态的变化，然后通过卫星将数据传送给远在数千英里之外的陆地上的团队，以及停泊于附近的北极星破冰船。与马赛克科考队的大本营不同的是，科学家们不可能轻易地到达这些外围前哨站去检查仪器，也许只是每个月去一次，为仪器补充电量。这意味着这些前哨站的仪器设置准备工作非常关键。如果其中一个仪器现在不能工作，那么在补给船费多罗夫院士号离开后再作修复就相当困难。

We’re at a new floe a few days later when cracks begin to appear. I’m in the mess hall of the Fedorov when it happens, a long room with rows of tables bolted to the floor and small round windows along one wall. Jari Haapala of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the leader of the Mosaic ice team, comes in and points out of one of the windows. “Have you seen the crack?”

我们在一个新的浮冰上待了几天后，浮冰开始出现裂缝。事情发生的时候，我正在费多罗夫号的餐厅里。这是一个很长的房间，几排餐桌被固定在地板上，一面墙上有几扇小圆窗。马赛克科考队冰上考察小组的领队、芬兰气象研究所的加日·哈帕拉（Jari Haapala）走进来，从一个窗户向外指着，“你看到裂缝了吗？”

I hurry onto the deck – there is a long fissure in the ice, about 30cm (1ft) wide, extending from the hull of the ship out as far as I can see. Haapala was outside bouncing electromagnetic pulses off the boundary layers between ice and water to measure its thickness when it opened. Two scientists were stuck on the far side of the crack and quickly crossed in case it opened up further. Several groups, including Haapala’s, had to turn around and come back on board.

我赶紧上到甲板，看到冰面上有一条长长的裂缝，大约30厘米（1英尺）宽，从费多罗夫号的船身一直延伸到我目所能及的远方。发生之前哈帕拉正在冰面使用反射电磁脉冲仪测量冰层和海水相接位置,以测出冰层的厚度。就在这时，冰层发生断裂。两名科学家被困在裂缝外面一侧，好在两人赶在裂缝扩大之前迅速跨过断层。包括哈帕拉在内的几个小组的人员都不得不撤回到船上。

“This is the natural behaviour of the ice,” says Haapala. Even in the depths of the Arctic winter, the ice will crack and open up leads of water. “Of course, thinner and warmer ice cracks more, but cracks always exist.”

哈帕拉说，“这是冰的自然现象。即使在严寒的冬天，冰层也会裂开，露出冰层下的一线海水。当然冰层较薄，温度较高，越容易断裂出现裂缝，但冰裂缝总是存在的。”

In the next year, the expedition will have to deal with many more cracks like these. It’s to be expected that in some cases cracks will cause damage. “It’s bad luck,” says Haapala. “There is a high probability that there are cracks, so we have to have several stations and we know some of our instruments will be destroyed.”

明年，科考队将不得不处理更多类似这样的冰层裂缝。可以预料，在某些情况下，冰面断层会造成损害。哈帕拉说，“运气不好。出现冰层断裂的可能性很高，所以我们必须有几个监测站，我们知道我们的一些仪器将被摧毁。”

That afternoon I go up to the bridge to do another shift on bear watch. The ship’s first mate gives me the additional task of looking out for more cracks. In between scanning the horizon I check back down by the hull of the ship. From up here – on the eighth deck – the cracks are delicate dark narrow lines that seem to run on for miles. If the floe starts to disintegrate any further, then all the remaining scientists might have to be pulled off the ice.

那天下午，我又到舰桥上去值班。船上的大副给了我额外的任务，要我除了注意熊的出没,还要观察是否再有冰层裂缝的出现。在扫视天边的间隙时候，我看了一下费多罗夫号船身。我站在第八层甲板上，从这里望过去，冰层那道断层只是一条纤细的黑色线，往前绵延似乎数英里。如果浮冰裂缝继续扩大，断裂开来，那么仍然还在冰上的科学家可能都要被迫撤离浮冰。

Over on the central floe by Polarstern, the scientists there have been having their fair share of both cracks and bears. The curious female polar bear and her cub have revisited both ships, choosing to hang around Polarstern for several days. Chasing them away by helicopter is only an option for so long. Chase them too hard or too fast and they can die from exhaustion – particularly the young ones. Work on the ice has also been delayed by the appearance of several cracks.

在北极星号旁的中央浮冰上，科学家们对冰层裂缝和北极星熊的出没都有相当的了解。那对好奇的北极熊母子再次造访了北极星号和费多罗夫号两艘船，在北极星号的船尾逗留了好几天。现在只采用了用直升机把他们吓走这个方法。担心如果赶得太猛或太快，会让北极熊母子死于疲劳逃命，尤其是那头幼崽。由于出现了几处裂缝，冰上作业也有所延迟。

“This is the way things go out here and it is easy to give into the forces of nature,” says Matt Shupe of the University of Colorado, leader of Mosaic’s atmosphere team. One of the cracks opened right beneath Shupe’s feet as he was working. One of the other expedition sites, or “cities” as the scientists call them, was affected more seriously. The hub for remote operated underwater vehicles was also hit by a crack but is “still alive”, he says. Shupe, who has many years of experience of work on the ice, remains unflappable. “Things are still pretty stable in the fortress and in our main cities.”

马赛克计划的大气小组负责人、科罗拉多大学的马特·舒普（Matt Shupe）说，“这里的情况就是这样，很容易屈服于大自然的力量。”有一道冰层裂缝刚好在舒普干活的时候，在他脚下突然裂开。另一个考察营地（科学家们称考察营地为“城市”）受到的影响更为严重。他表示，遥控潜水器的中心也受到裂缝冲击，但还“仍然存在”。拥有多年冰上工作经验的舒普依然镇定自若。他说，“在堡垒和我们的主要城市，情况仍然相当稳定。”

That week, peering over the side of the Fedorov I see a small patch of what looks like blood on the ice, and wonder if a bear made a kill close to us. But soon there is an announcement to the expedition party that someone was seen feeding a bear from the side of the ship. If people are tempting the bears closer, then they are more likely to pose a risk to people on the ice, and the bears themselves are more likely to end up being shot.

在那个星期，我从费多罗夫号的一侧往外看，看到冰上有一小块像是血迹的东西，我怀疑是不是有北极熊在船的附近猎杀了其他动物。但很快，考察队接到通知，发现有人在船的一侧喂食北极熊。如果船上的人用食物吸引北极熊靠近人类，北极熊很可能对冰上作业的人造成危险，而熊自己也很有可能遭到射杀。

But soon both bears and cracks take a back seat as the main concern on the Fedorov. One night when the ship is stationary, I hear an enormous thunk, as something bashes hard into the side of the ship. Again, a few seconds later, there is another thunk. It is far louder than any icebreaking I have heard so far – and besides, the ship is stationary.

但很快，北极熊和冰层裂缝对费多罗夫号,已非最大的困扰。一天晚上，当船静止不动的时候，我听到一声巨大的撞击声，好像有什么东西狠狠地撞击到船身。几秒钟后，又是一声巨响。这比我目前听到的任何破冰的声音都要响亮得多，而且，船仍然是静止不动的。

In the corridor, people are hurriedly putting on their ice suits and rushing out on deck. “Jari went that way, he said something about ice compression,” says Anne Gold of the University of Colorado. I run to my cabin and climb into my own ice suit. The ship starts to shake again and there is a sound like low thunder outside, and then a scraping noise like metal on metal.

在走廊里，人们匆匆穿上他们的冰雪服，冲到甲板上。科罗拉多大学的安妮·哥尔德（Anne Gold）说“加日就是这么做的，他说是受到浮冰挤压。”我跑回小屋，穿上自己的冰雪服。这时船又开始摇晃，外面传来低沉的雷声，接着是金属碰撞金属的摩擦声。

Out on the deck, Jari Haapala is looking over the edge of the ship. Below us, there is a trail of footprints where someone had walked alongside the ship earlier. But the line of footprints is broken by a mound of ice, forced upwards into a small hill of shards. The footprints are visible across the mound, but it is obvious that no one could have walked across it. Behind us, the wake of the ship, which is almost 25m (82ft) wide, has enclosed entirely. A neat seam zig-zags away where the ice has been forced back together.

在甲板上，加日·哈帕拉正向船的边缘看过去。在我们下面，有一串脚印，是之前有人在船边走过留下的。但这一行脚印已被一堆冰砸断了，这堆碎冰已堆积成了一小丘。在冰堆那一侧也可以看到脚印，但是很明显没有人走过那里。在我们身后，几乎25米（82英尺）宽的船尾已经被冰完全包围封闭。两边的冰挤压在一起,只剩下一条整齐的细线弯弯曲曲地向前延伸,直至消失。

The ship is caught between two stretches of ice that are being pushed together by ocean currents, Haapala tells me. The ice is crushing in on us, building up pressure around the hull until the ice cracks and breaks. The ship’s reinforced hull won’t collapse under the pressure, Haapala says, but there is a risk that we might get trapped in the ice.

哈帕拉告诉我，因两道冰体受到洋流推动而挤压到一起,而我们的船正好被夹在中间。两旁的冰正在向我们的补给船挤来，在船体周围形成压力，直到冰破裂为止。哈帕拉说，已加固的船身不会在压力下解体，但船无法动弹，我们有被困在浮冰的危险。

If we do, we might be forced to begin our own unplanned Arctic drift experiment.

如果我们真的被困在浮冰上，我们可能将被迫随同浮冰开始北极漂移历险。

来源：好英语网