‘Like going to the moon’: The world’s most terrifying ocean crossing
「就像前往月球一樣」世界上最可怕的海上航行
Julia Buckley, CNN
13 minute read
Updated 5:17 AM EST, Mon February 5, 2024
https://i.imgur.com/ECk55N3.jpg
The Drake Passage is feared by travelers and sailors alike.
旅行者和水手都害怕德雷克海峽。
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CNN
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It’s the body of water that instils fear and inspires sailors in equal measure. Six hundred miles of open sea, and some of the roughest conditions on the planet – with an equally inhospitable land of snow and ice awaiting you at the end of it.
“The most dreaded bit of ocean on the globe – and rightly so,” Alfred Lansing wrote of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 voyage across it in a small lifeboat. It is, of course, the Drake Passage, connecting the southern tip of the South American continent with the northernmost point of the Antarctic Peninsula.
正是水體灌輸了恐懼,並同樣激勵了水手們。 六百英里的公海,以及地球上一些最惡劣的條件——在它的盡頭,一片同樣荒涼的冰雪之地等著你。
阿爾弗雷德·蘭辛(Alfred Lansing)在談到探險家歐內斯特·沙克爾頓(Ernest Shackleton)1916年乘坐一艘小型救生艇穿越時寫道:「地球上最可怕的海洋——這是正確的。」 當然,它是德雷克海峽,連線南美大陸的南端和南極半島的最北端。
Once the preserve of explorers and sea dogs, the Drake is today a daunting challenge for an ever-increasing number of travelers to Antarctica – and not just because it takes up to 48 hours to cross it. For many, being able to boast of surviving the “Drake shake” is part of the attraction of going to the “white continent.”
德雷克號曾經是探險家和海狗的保護區,今天對越來越多的南極洲旅行者來說是一個艱巨的挑戰——不僅僅是因為它需要48小時才能穿越它。 對許多人來說,能夠吹噓在「德雷克搖晃」中倖存下來是去「白色大陸」的吸引力的一部分。
But what causes those “shakes,” which can see waves topping nearly 50 feet battering the ships? And how do sailors navigate the planet’s wildest waters?
但是,是什麼導致了那些「搖晃」,這些「搖晃」可以看到海浪超過近50英尺的衝擊船隻? 水手們如何在地球上最荒涼的水域中航行?
For oceanographers, it turns out, the Drake is a fascinating place because of what’s going on under the surface of those thrashing waters. And for ship captains, it’s a challenge that needs to be approached with a healthy dose of fear.
事實證明,對於海洋學家來說,德雷克是一個迷人的地方,因為在那些汹湧的水域表面下發生的事情。 對於船長來說,這是一個需要以健康的恐懼來應對的挑戰。
The world’s strongest storms
世界上最強烈的風暴
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The Drake Passage can see waves of up to 49 feet.
德雷克通道可以看到高達49英尺的高浪。
At around 600 miles wide and up to 6,000 meters (nearly four miles) deep, the Drake is objectively a vast body of water. To us, that is. To the planet as a whole, less so.
德雷克寬約600英里,深達6000米(將達四英里),客觀上是一個廣闊的水體。 對我們來說,那就是。 對於整個星球來說,更不用說了。
The Antarctic Peninsula, where tourists visit, isn’t even Antarctica proper. It’s a thinning peninsula, rotating northwards from the vast continent of Antarctica, and reaching towards the southern tip of South America – the two pointing towards each other, a bit like a tectonic version of Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel.
遊客訪問的南極半島甚至不是南極洲本身。 這是一個正在變薄的半島,從廣闊的南極洲大陸向北旋轉,並到達南美洲的南端——兩者相互指向對方,有點像米開朗基羅在西斯廷教堂的「亞當的造物」的構造版本。
That creates a pinch point effect, with the water being squeezed between the two land masses – the ocean is surging through the gap between the continents.
這產生了夾點效應,水被擠壓在兩個陸地之間——海洋正在透過大陸之間的空隙湧出。
“It’s the only place in the world where those winds can push all around the globe without hitting land – and land tends to dampen storms,” says oceanographer Alexander Brearley, head of open oceans at the British Antarctic Survey.
英國南極調查局公海負責人、海洋學家Alexander Brearley說:「這是世界上唯一一個這些風可以在不撞擊陸地的情況下吹遍全球的地方——陸地往往會抑制風暴。」
Winds tend to blow west to east, he says – and the latitudes of 40 to 60 are notorious for strong winds. Hence their nicknames of the “roaring forties,” “furious fifties” and “screaming sixties” (Antarctica officially starts at 60 degrees).
他說,風往往從西向東吹——緯度為40至60度因強風而臭名昭著。 因此,他們的綽號是「咆哮的四十年代」、「憤怒的五十年代」和「尖叫的六十年代」(南極州正式從60度開始)。
But winds are slowed by landmass – which is why Atlantic storms tend to smash into Ireland and the UK (as they did, causing havoc, with Storm Isha in January buffeting planes to entirely different countries) and then weaken as they continue east to the European continent.
但風因陸地而減緩——這就是為什麼大西洋風暴傾向於撞擊愛爾蘭和英國(就像它們一樣,造成破壞,風暴伊沙在1月份衝擊了飛往完全不同的國家的飛機),然後隨著它們繼續向東向歐洲大陸而減弱。
With no land to slow them down at the Drake’s latitude anywhere on the planet, winds can hurtle around the globe, gathering pace – and smashing into ships.
由於在德雷克的緯度上沒有陸地來減慢它們的速度,風可以在全球各地疾馳,加快步伐——並撞向船隻。
https://i.imgur.com/LsTCkOJ.png
“In the middle of the Drake Passage the winds may have blown over thousands of kilometers to where you are,” says Brearley. “Kinetic energy is converted from wind into waves, and builds up storm waves.” Those can reach up to 15 meters, or 49 feet, he says. Although before you get too alarmed, know that the mean wave height on the Drake is rather less – four to five meters, or 13-16 feet. That’s still double what you’ll find in the Atlantic, by way of comparison.
Brearley說:「在德雷克海峽的中間,風可能已經吹到了數千公里的地方。」 「動力能從風轉化為波浪,並形成風暴波浪。」 他說,這些可以達到15米或49英尺。 雖然在你太驚慌之前,要知道德雷克的平均波浪高度要小得多——四到五米,或13-16英尺。 相比之下,這仍然是你在大西洋上發現的兩倍。
And it’s not just the winds making the waters rough – the Drake is basically one big surge of water.
不僅僅是風使水域變得波濤斳——德雷克基本上是一股大浪湧。
“The Southern Ocean is very stormy in general [but] in the Drake you’re really squeezing [the water] between the Antarctic and the southern hemisphere,” he adds. “That intensifies the storms as they come through.” He calls it a “funneling effect.”
他補充說:「南大洋總體上非常暴風雨[但]在德雷克,你真的在南極和南半球之間擠擠[水]。」 「這加劇了暴風雨的透過。」 他稱之為「漏鬥效應」。
Then there’s the speed at which the water is thrashing through. The Drake is part of the most voluminous ocean current in the world, with up to 5,300 million cubic feet flowing per second. Squeezed into the narrow passage, the current increases, traveling west to east. Brearley says that at surface level, that current is less perceptible – just a couple of knots – so you won’t really sense it onboard. “But it does mean you’ll travel a bit more slowly,” he says.
然後是水澍流的速度。 德雷克號是世界上最大的洋流之一,每秒流動多達53億立方英尺。 擠在狹窄的通道中,水流增加,從西向東移動。 Brearley說,在表面水準上,這種電流不太容易察覺——只有幾個節——所以你不會在船上真正感覺到它。 他說:「但這確實意味著你會旅行得更慢一點。」
For oceanographers, he says, the Drake is “a fascinating place.”
他說,對於海洋學家來說,德雷克是「一個迷人的地方」。
It’s home to what he calls “underwater mountains” below the surface – and the enormous current squeezing through the (relatively) narrow passage causes waves to break against them underwater. These “internal waves,” as he calls them, create vortices which bring colder water from the depths of the ocean higher up – important for the planet’s climate.
這是他所謂的地表下「水下山脈」的所在地——巨大的水流擠過(相對)狹窄的通道,導致海浪在水下衝擊。 這些他稱之為「內部波浪」的漩渦會產生漩渦,從海洋深處將更冷的水帶到更高的地方——這對地球的氣候很重要。
“It’s not just turbulent at the surface, though obviously that’s what you feel the most – but it’s actually turbulent all the way through the water column,” says Brearley, who regularly crosses the Drake on a research ship. Does he get scared? “I don’t think I’ve ever been really fearful, but it can be very unpleasant in terms of how rough it is,” he says candidly.
經常乘坐研究船穿越德雷克號的Brearley說:「它不僅僅是表面的湍流,儘管顯然這是你最能感受到的——但它實際上一直透過水柱的湍流。」 他害怕嗎? 他坦率地說:「我認為我從來沒有真正害怕過,但就它有多粗糙而言,這可能是非常不愉快的。」
Source From CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/drake-passage-rough-sea-scn/index.html
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