Science and Technology Greenhouse-gas monitoring Not hot air

　　溫室氣體監測 而非熱空氣

　　A new, private initiative should help show which gases come from where

　　一項新的私人倡議或許能夠表明各種氣體從何而來

　　IN 1955 a young man called David Keeling started to measure the level of carbon dioxide inthe Californian air. It seemed of little practical value, but he liked designing and building theequipmentand driving back and forth along the Pacific Coast Highway to his sampling siteat Big Sur was fun. Scientists with a new-found interest in the world s carbon-dioxide levelssoon learned of his work and gave him a job setting up monitoring stations in Hawaii andAntarctica for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, in La Jolla. He continued to work therefor almost 50 years, devoting his life to the monitoring effort. His son, Ralph, runs thecarbon-dioxide programme at Scripps to this day.

　　1955年，一個名為David Keeling的年輕人開始測量加利福尼亞空氣中的二氧化碳含量。當時他的這一舉動看起來沒什么實際價值，但這個年輕人喜歡設計和制造設備樂此不疲的往返于太平洋海岸的高速公路和位于大蘇爾的采樣點間。新近對全球二氧化碳含量產生興趣的科學家們得知他的所作所為后，給了他一份工作在夏威夷和南極洲拉霍亞的斯克利普斯海洋研究所設立監測站。他一直在那里工作了差不多50年，傾其一生于監測事業。他的兒子拉爾夫現在管理著斯克利普斯的二氧化碳項目。

　　In those 50 years measuring carbon-dioxide levels has gone from being a fun problem for apostdoc to a crucial issue for the planet. But the amount of effort put into it remainssurprisingly small. America s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runsthe biggest network of monitoring sites. A dozen other countries run a few here and there aswell, with an expanded European effort getting under way. However, the scientists involvedhave been pointing out for years that it would take a very small investment, in a scientificworld of satellites and supercomputers, to make such networks a lot more capable. OnJanuary 12th, such an investment was at last revealedbut not by any of the governments towhich the pleas had been addressed.

　　在測量二氧化碳含量的這50 年間，二氧化碳含量已不僅是一個博士后感興趣的問題，而成為了全球至關重要的問題。但讓人吃驚的是，為此所做的努力依然很少。美國國家海洋和大氣局管理著最大的監測站網絡。其它一些國家也在各處零星分布著一些網絡，歐洲方面展開的努力正在進行中。然而，參與其中的科學家們幾年前就指出，只要一些小額的投資以及科學界的人造衛星和超級計算機，就能使這些網絡發揮更大的能力。1月12日，對監測網絡的這類投資終于浮出水面但政府方面沒出上力，這些要求已得到解決。

　　A private company in Maryland, known until recently as AWS Convergence Technologies butnow called Earth Networks, has announced that over the next five years it will spend $25minstalling 100 state-of-the-art carbon-dioxide and methane monitors around the world. Fiftywill be sited in America. According to Pieter Tans, the doyen of the field at NOAA, the countrycurrently has 17 or 18, so that will improve things by a factor of four. In someless-well-covered places things will improve even more.

　　一家位于馬里蘭的私人公司AWS集中技術現在也叫地球網絡，直到最近才為人所知，公司已經宣布在未來的五年里會花2500萬美金在全世界范圍內安裝100臺最先進的二氧化碳和甲烷監測器。其中50臺將被安裝在美國。據NOAA的元老級人物彼得.坦斯稱，美國目前為止有17，18臺，所以增加的監測器可增加到原來的4倍。在一些原本就覆蓋很少的地方，將會有更多的監測器增加進來。

　　This is not pure philanthropy. Earth Networks, which already runs a large system ofweather stations and lightning monitors, is looking to expand, and it believes that thereshould be a market for greenhouse-gas data. American states trying to show that they aredoing something about their emissions might be prepared to pay for inverse modelling work if it were detailed enough to give results for areas assmall as single states. So might countries in Europe, where the company plans to put 25monitors. The new monitoring stations should allow such granularity.

　　此舉并不純粹是慈善事業。地球網絡已經在運作一個大型氣候站點系統，還將擴展閃電監測器，該公司認為溫室氣體數據應該能有市場。美國各州正試著表明他們現在對排放的氣體所做的研究可能為 反轉模型 工作做了準備如果數據夠完整，將可以得出單個州大小區域的結果。歐洲各國也準備采用這種 反轉模型 ，公司計劃在歐洲安裝25臺監測器。新的監測站應該允許這樣的范圍跨度。

　　Although carbon dioxide is the more important greenhouse gas, methane measurementswill be a more practical early application to test the market for this sort of data. Landmasses, and their inhabitants, emit methane without then sucking any of it back up, whichmakes inverse modelling easier than for carbon dioxide .

　　盡管二氧化碳是更為重要的溫室氣體，但測量甲烷含量作為一個早期應用方法對測試此類數據的市場價值有更實際的作用。陸地，和生活在陸地上的各種生物，排放出甲烷后就不會吸回。用甲烷做研究的反轉模型比用二氧化碳的要來的容易

　　Dr Tans probably speaks for many of the scientists involved when he says he is cautiouslyoptimistic about the news. The caution stems in part from concerns about how thecompany s policy on access to its data may change as its business model becomes clearer. Tobegin with, those data will be free to academic researchers. But that could change.

　　當坦斯博士稱他對這個消息持謹慎樂觀態度時，他很可能道出了眾多參與其中的科學家們的態度。這種謹慎一部分源于擔心地球網絡很可能隨著公司經營模式變得明晰而改變外界獲得數據的政策。最先讓人感到擔憂的是現在這些數據都免費提供給學院的研究人員，但這個做法很可能會改變。

　　Another, more selfish worry is that governments which buy Earth Networks products willclose down their existing research programmes. Besides the resulting unemployment, someresearchers fear this would waste an opportunity to use the new data to reveal the trueworkings of the sources and sinks of gases.

　　另一個更為自私一點的擔憂是，政府如果買下了地球網絡的產品后很可能停辦掉他們現在的研究項目。這樣做產生的后果除了讓一些人失業外，有些研究人員還擔心會浪費使用這些數據來真正揭示氣體是何去何來的良機。

　　And new data there will bepossibly a lot of themif the business shows signs of profit. EarthNetworks will presumably expand, or competitors will move in, or both. Bob Marshall, thecompany s boss, says he could imagine 1,000 monitoring stations around the world by 2023.Couple such capability with new satellite measurements and better measurements of the mass of plantlife in forests and other ecosystems, and the planet s greenhouse-gas credits and debits willsurely be understood far better.

　　如果企業表明了這些數據可以獲利的一面，產生的新數據可能會很多。地球網絡可能會擴張，或者競爭者加入進來。或者兩者兼有。公司老板Bob Marshall說，他的設想是到2023年全世界范圍有1000處監測站。新的人造衛星測量器的能力加之對森林和其他生態體系植物質量的更完善的測量，相信人們對地球溫室氣體的來源和出處會有更深層次的理解。

　　Such expansion has risks in itself. Long-term monitoring requires expertise that comesonly with years on the job, so the quality of data from new entrants is always a bit suspect.Here, though, Earth Networks has been canny. As well as working with NOAA, it has apartnership with Scripps to ensure its precision and quality control. There s no betterpedigree.

　　這樣的擴張自身會存在風險。進行長期的監測需要專門技術，而這些檢測技術只有通過經年累月的工作才能獲得，因此新進的監測人員所監測到的數據在質量上總讓人有些懷疑。在這方面，地球網絡倒是很謹慎。除了和NOAA合作外，他們和斯克利普斯也有合作關系，這樣做用以確保數據的精準性和質量控制。沒有更好的合作者了。

　　Science and Technology Greenhouse-gas monitoring Not hot air

　　溫室氣體監測 而非熱空氣

　　A new, private initiative should help show which gases come from where

　　一項新的私人倡議或許能夠表明各種氣體從何而來

　　IN 1955 a young man called David Keeling started to measure the level of carbon dioxide inthe Californian air. It seemed of little practical value, but he liked designing and building theequipmentand driving back and forth along the Pacific Coast Highway to his sampling siteat Big Sur was fun. Scientists with a new-found interest in the world s carbon-dioxide levelssoon learned of his work and gave him a job setting up monitoring stations in Hawaii andAntarctica for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, in La Jolla. He continued to work therefor almost 50 years, devoting his life to the monitoring effort. His son, Ralph, runs thecarbon-dioxide programme at Scripps to this day.

　　1955年，一個名為David Keeling的年輕人開始測量加利福尼亞空氣中的二氧化碳含量。當時他的這一舉動看起來沒什么實際價值，但這個年輕人喜歡設計和制造設備樂此不疲的往返于太平洋海岸的高速公路和位于大蘇爾的采樣點間。新近對全球二氧化碳含量產生興趣的科學家們得知他的所作所為后，給了他一份工作在夏威夷和南極洲拉霍亞的斯克利普斯海洋研究所設立監測站。他一直在那里工作了差不多50年，傾其一生于監測事業。他的兒子拉爾夫現在管理著斯克利普斯的二氧化碳項目。

　　In those 50 years measuring carbon-dioxide levels has gone from being a fun problem for apostdoc to a crucial issue for the planet. But the amount of effort put into it remainssurprisingly small. America s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runsthe biggest network of monitoring sites. A dozen other countries run a few here and there aswell, with an expanded European effort getting under way. However, the scientists involvedhave been pointing out for years that it would take a very small investment, in a scientificworld of satellites and supercomputers, to make such networks a lot more capable. OnJanuary 12th, such an investment was at last revealedbut not by any of the governments towhich the pleas had been addressed.

　　在測量二氧化碳含量的這50 年間，二氧化碳含量已不僅是一個博士后感興趣的問題，而成為了全球至關重要的問題。但讓人吃驚的是，為此所做的努力依然很少。美國國家海洋和大氣局管理著最大的監測站網絡。其它一些國家也在各處零星分布著一些網絡，歐洲方面展開的努力正在進行中。然而，參與其中的科學家們幾年前就指出，只要一些小額的投資以及科學界的人造衛星和超級計算機，就能使這些網絡發揮更大的能力。1月12日，對監測網絡的這類投資終于浮出水面但政府方面沒出上力，這些要求已得到解決。

　　A private company in Maryland, known until recently as AWS Convergence Technologies butnow called Earth Networks, has announced that over the next five years it will spend $25minstalling 100 state-of-the-art carbon-dioxide and methane monitors around the world. Fiftywill be sited in America. According to Pieter Tans, the doyen of the field at NOAA, the countrycurrently has 17 or 18, so that will improve things by a factor of four. In someless-well-covered places things will improve even more.

　　一家位于馬里蘭的私人公司AWS集中技術現在也叫地球網絡，直到最近才為人所知，公司已經宣布在未來的五年里會花2500萬美金在全世界范圍內安裝100臺最先進的二氧化碳和甲烷監測器。其中50臺將被安裝在美國。據NOAA的元老級人物彼得.坦斯稱，美國目前為止有17，18臺，所以增加的監測器可增加到原來的4倍。在一些原本就覆蓋很少的地方，將會有更多的監測器增加進來。

　　This is not pure philanthropy. Earth Networks, which already runs a large system ofweather stations and lightning monitors, is looking to expand, and it believes that thereshould be a market for greenhouse-gas data. American states trying to show that they aredoing something about their emissions might be prepared to pay for inverse modelling work if it were detailed enough to give results for areas assmall as single states. So might countries in Europe, where the company plans to put 25monitors. The new monitoring stations should allow such granularity.

　　此舉并不純粹是慈善事業。地球網絡已經在運作一個大型氣候站點系統，還將擴展閃電監測器，該公司認為溫室氣體數據應該能有市場。美國各州正試著表明他們現在對排放的氣體所做的研究可能為 反轉模型 工作做了準備如果數據夠完整，將可以得出單個州大小區域的結果。歐洲各國也準備采用這種 反轉模型 ，公司計劃在歐洲安裝25臺監測器。新的監測站應該允許這樣的范圍跨度。

　　Although carbon dioxide is the more important greenhouse gas, methane measurementswill be a more practical early application to test the market for this sort of data. Landmasses, and their inhabitants, emit methane without then sucking any of it back up, whichmakes inverse modelling easier than for carbon dioxide .

　　盡管二氧化碳是更為重要的溫室氣體，但測量甲烷含量作為一個早期應用方法對測試此類數據的市場價值有更實際的作用。陸地，和生活在陸地上的各種生物，排放出甲烷后就不會吸回。用甲烷做研究的反轉模型比用二氧化碳的要來的容易

　　Dr Tans probably speaks for many of the scientists involved when he says he is cautiouslyoptimistic about the news. The caution stems in part from concerns about how thecompany s policy on access to its data may change as its business model becomes clearer. Tobegin with, those data will be free to academic researchers. But that could change.

　　當坦斯博士稱他對這個消息持謹慎樂觀態度時，他很可能道出了眾多參與其中的科學家們的態度。這種謹慎一部分源于擔心地球網絡很可能隨著公司經營模式變得明晰而改變外界獲得數據的政策。最先讓人感到擔憂的是現在這些數據都免費提供給學院的研究人員，但這個做法很可能會改變。

　　Another, more selfish worry is that governments which buy Earth Networks products willclose down their existing research programmes. Besides the resulting unemployment, someresearchers fear this would waste an opportunity to use the new data to reveal the trueworkings of the sources and sinks of gases.

　　另一個更為自私一點的擔憂是，政府如果買下了地球網絡的產品后很可能停辦掉他們現在的研究項目。這樣做產生的后果除了讓一些人失業外，有些研究人員還擔心會浪費使用這些數據來真正揭示氣體是何去何來的良機。

　　And new data there will bepossibly a lot of themif the business shows signs of profit. EarthNetworks will presumably expand, or competitors will move in, or both. Bob Marshall, thecompany s boss, says he could imagine 1,000 monitoring stations around the world by 2023.Couple such capability with new satellite measurements and better measurements of the mass of plantlife in forests and other ecosystems, and the planet s greenhouse-gas credits and debits willsurely be understood far better.

　　如果企業表明了這些數據可以獲利的一面，產生的新數據可能會很多。地球網絡可能會擴張，或者競爭者加入進來。或者兩者兼有。公司老板Bob Marshall說，他的設想是到2023年全世界范圍有1000處監測站。新的人造衛星測量器的能力加之對森林和其他生態體系植物質量的更完善的測量，相信人們對地球溫室氣體的來源和出處會有更深層次的理解。

　　Such expansion has risks in itself. Long-term monitoring requires expertise that comesonly with years on the job, so the quality of data from new entrants is always a bit suspect.Here, though, Earth Networks has been canny. As well as working with NOAA, it has apartnership with Scripps to ensure its precision and quality control. There s no betterpedigree.

　　這樣的擴張自身會存在風險。進行長期的監測需要專門技術，而這些檢測技術只有通過經年累月的工作才能獲得，因此新進的監測人員所監測到的數據在質量上總讓人有些懷疑。在這方面，地球網絡倒是很謹慎。除了和NOAA合作外，他們和斯克利普斯也有合作關系，這樣做用以確保數據的精準性和質量控制。沒有更好的合作者了。