事关地球生死的10张图片

【导读】冰岛火山爆发，墨西哥湾原油泄露，致命热浪席卷全球，以及暴雨洪灾。NASA的卫星记录下了这些突发事件下地球的状态，记录下我们星球不断变化的形态，试图为未来指出一条明路。
THE BLUE MARBLE
蔚蓝的珍珠
This iconic image leads the legacy of NASA's Terra satellite, a flagship of the agency's Earth-observing fleet. Now in its 10th year of monitoring the land, oceans, sea ice and clouds, Terra tracks environmental change like a doctor monitors a patient's vital signs. Reminiscent of photographs taken by astronauts on the moon, this digital image from 2002 is the stitching together of months of Terra observations of into a seamless mosaic, with resolution down to one square kilometer.
这幅来自NASA绕地卫星的地球肖像画，是观察地球图片中的佼佼者。到目前为止，我们用这种方法监视大地，海洋，冰川和云层已经有10个年头了，我们像医生检查病人生命特征一般记录着地球的环境变化。这张2002年拍摄的照片是由绕地卫星通过一个月的拍摄之后无缝拼接而成的，它的分辨率可以精确到一平方公里。
ELEVATING LANDSCAPES
地形测量
This view of the Los Angeles Basin, looking northwest toward the San Gabriel Mountains, is a simulated natural-color image draped over digital topography, both from Terra's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). The ASTER team released this image in June 2009 to promote its new global digital elevation model, which remains the most complete and consistent data set of its kind.
通过使用绕地卫星上先进的热发射和反射接受器，将自然景色的图片覆盖到数字拓扑信息上去，就形成了这样一幅朝向圣盖博山的洛杉矶盆地视图。这种图片由热发射和反射接受器研究小组（ASTER）在2009年6月发布，旨在推广这种目前保留了最全最准确地球数据的新型地球数据测量模型。
SICKENING BLOOMS
水藻大爆发
Terra's ASTER sensor captured this view of filaments of blue-green algae swirling across Guatemala's Lake Atitlán on November 22, 2009. Such algal blooms are not only harmful to people and animals but can also trigger dead zones in the lake—areas in the water so devoid of oxygen that they cannot support aerobic life. To aid mitigation efforts of this and other types of natural hazards, ASTER operators can point the sensor at requested targets and acquire about 500 high-resolution images a day.
2009年11月22日，绕地卫星上的热发射和反射接受器捕捉到了这种蓝绿细丝状水藻旋转越过危地马拉的亚提特兰湖。这种水藻大爆发不仅会对人畜造成危害还会在湖水中制造死亡区域——水中的一片区域会因为氧气匮乏而完全不能供有氧生物生存。为了帮助缓解水藻爆发和其他一些自然危及，ASTER小组可以将感应器对准目标区域，每天截取500张高分辨率照片。
STUNTED STORAGE
植被分配不均
How much carbon land plants store during photosynthesis, a measure known as net primary productivity, changes from season to season. That explains why the Northern Hemisphere was so much "greener" in August 2009 [top] than in March 2010 [bottom]. A recent analysis of these monthly compilations, based on measurements from Terra's Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), revealed that changes are happening year to year as well. Annual global uptake of carbon has been declining since 2000, probably as warming-related droughts stunt the growth of crops and vegetation in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere
净初级生产力被定义为植物在光和作用可以储存的碳的总量，这个值会伴随季节而变化。这也解释了北半球在20098月时比2010年3月时更“绿”。最近一项基于卫星中分辨光分光辐射度计（MODIS）的研究表明，这项数值不仅与季节有关，还会随着年份而变化。自2000起我们储存的碳就在逐年减少，这很有可能是因为全变变暖导致的水灾妨碍了热带地区和南半球庄家蔬菜的种植。
GULF OF MEXICO OIL SLICK
墨西哥湾原油泄露
Terra's MODIS sensor can also capture photolike images, such as this view of an oil slick lurking not far from the Mississippi Delta on the morning of May 10, 2010.
绕地卫星上的分光辐射度计感应器也可以用来获取类似与图片的信息。例如这张照片反映的就是2010年5月10日早上原油平静的躺在离密西西比河不远的三角洲区域。
WILEY WILDFIRE
森林野火
California’s Station Fire, the largest in the recorded history of Los Angeles County, spread aggressively during the morning hours of August 30, 2009, the day Terra’s MODIS instrument acquired this image. Another Terra sensor, the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), tracked the fire’s smoke blowing over Nevada, Utah and Colorado by collecting a series of images at multiple angles and constructing three-dimensional images of the plume. Terra’s Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) tracked the fire’s carbon monoxide emissions all the way to Louisiana.
加利福利亚大火是洛杉矶有史料记载以来最大的一次。2009年8月30号的早上大火迅速扩散，当绕地卫星的绕地中分辨光分光辐射度计装置截取到这张图片的时候，另一个叫做多通道成像分光辐射度计（MISR）感应器正在跟踪烟雾的散播情况。犹他州和科罗拉多州从不同的角度收集了一系列图片，并利用这些图片构建出了烟云的三维视图。绕地卫星的对流层污染检测（MOPITT）器记录下了从事发地点到路易斯安娜州的碳排放量。
ERUPTION IN ICELAND
冰岛火山爆发
Terra’s MODIS sensor also captured this image of Iceland’s Eyjafjallaj kull volcano as it continued to emit a dense plume of ash and steam on May 7, 2010. And just as the MISR team was able to track the smoke plume from the Station Fire, it used a series of images from multiple angles to measure the height of the volcano’s ash cloud and the concentration of particles in the plume.
卫星上的分光辐射度计感应器也捕捉到了冰岛火山爆发时的场景。2010年5月7日Eyjafjallaj kull火山不停的喷出大密度的灰尘。2010年5月7好，MSR团队已经可以记录以火山为起点的烟雾散播情况。通过利用来自多个角度的不同图片，科学家成功的测量出了火山灰产生的灰云的高度以及空气中粒子的颗粒大小。
STREAMING POLLUTION
蒸汽污染
Monitoring concentrations of atmospheric carbon monoxide—in this case, over eastern China and the Pacific Ocean—allows scientists to observe both the sources and transport of pollution on a global scale. This composite image of data that Terra's Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor collected during February 2006 is representative of the considerable annual flow of pollution out of the region. Researchers have used Terra data to track numerous Asian pollution plumes all the way to the U.S., indicating that international cooperation may be necessary to meet national air-quality goals.
通过检测中国和太平洋大气中二氧化碳的海量，科学家们可以得到全球范围内污染的排放起点和散播途径。研究人员通过使用卫星数据跟踪了多天由亚洲一路排到美国的废气排放路径。这也在警示我们，为了让全球空气质量达标我们需要有更为融洽的国际合作。
DEADLY HEAT WAVE
全球热浪
During the height of a deadly heat wave on August 4, 2003, Europe emitted as much heat as the Sahara Desert in northern Africa did. This image is from Terra's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor, which takes stock of the quantity of solar energy the planet's atmosphere and surface absorbs as well as how much infrared and heat energy it radiates back into space. This ever-changing balance is what ultimately determines Earth's climate.
在2003年8月4日死亡热浪的高峰期。整个欧洲所散发的热量和撒哈拉沙漠在北非所散发的一样多。这张图片来源于卫星的云和地球辐射能量系统感应器，它能检测出大气层和地球表面吸收的太阳能的大小以及它们反射掉红外和热能的大小。这个平衡被打破也是地球气候变化的元凶。
湖泊锐减至四分之一

世界第四大湖，咸海现在几经消失殆尽。卫星的中分辨光分光辐射度计感应器记录下了它自2000年开始的不断缩的减过程。到2009年夏天为止，沙漠已经铺盖住了原来大部分水域。