research team and they have asked lots of interesting questions. Many of the
questions answered by Dr. James Cowen. Let’s see what his answers are. Please also feel free to write down your questions in the “comment” options below and we’d love to answer your questions too. *click the link below to know more about Taipei First Girls High School http://www.fg.tp.edu.tw/EnglishPage/index.php
By the way, the oceanic crustal fluids that we collected are "SALTY" water. Their salinity is very similar to seawater. The crustal fluids we collected at Juan de Fuca Ridge flank have higher salinity because these fluids were originate from bottom seawater during last glacial maximum (Elderfield et al., 1998).
下面是台灣北一女中的學生們在閱讀我們的部落格後，所提出的一些有趣的問題，而我的指導老師柯恩教授很努力用簡單的英文詳細的回答，希望這些問答也能夠幫助你更瞭解我們的研究。
從學生的問題中，我發現很多人似乎把流動在海洋岩石圈中的水跟陸地的地下水都想成是淡水，請記得，海洋岩石中流動的水，基本上是源自於海水，所以是鹹水，鹽度跟海水很接近，如果是上次冰期時的海水灌入而成的海下地下水，鹽度甚至還會比現在海水還高一點。
1. What do the microbes in underground water absorb for live?
海下岩石水圈中的生物是吸收什麼物質來生活呢？ Subseafloor microorganisms requirements are similar to microbes from anywhere. They must obtain carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and a host of other minor and trace elements. 這些生物跟地球上其他的生物一樣，需要主要元素包含碳、氮、磷跟硫，以及其他的次要元素跟微量元素等。 |
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2.
Are there any people in the Remotely-operated-submersible
vehicle Jason?
遠端遙控潛水艇傑森號裡面有載人嘛？
No. these ROVs are operated remotely from a
control van on board the mother ship.
沒有，遠端遙控的意思只的就是人在船上，利用纜線從船上控制在水中的
潛水艇。（卉婷註：就像是遙控船或遙控飛機一樣，既然是遙控，就代表 人並不需要在船上就可以操作的。）
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3.
How do you preserve the sample after collecting it? How long it can
keep? How much time does the boat go there and back usually take?
樣品採完以後要怎麼保存？多久時間內樣品不會變壞？船要多久的時間來回研
究站？
The method of
preservation depends on the sample type (e.g., what will be measured in the
sample). Some samples like for major
bio-nutrients, organic carbon or other organics are usually frozen. Others like for cell counts will be
preserved with something like formaldehyde.
Well preserved samples can be stored for years as long as the
conditions of their storage do not change.
The ships transit time (time from port to station) can be anything
from less than a day to over 7 days.
The submersible can take from one to several hours to transit from the
ocean surface to the seafloor.
樣品的保存依樣品的形式與測量的項目而異，假使我們採的樣品是要做營養鹽
、有機碳或是其他有機物的組成分析，這些樣品必需要被冷凍起來，（卉婷註 ：因為這些物質很容易被微生物使用掉，而改變其初始濃度），而要作細胞數 測量的樣品則需要用福馬林保存下來。良好保存的樣品可以維持數年（卉婷註 ：所有的樣品保存方式都是要一一作實驗來驗證的，幸運的是，這些實驗都有 前人作過了，我們是依循他們建議的方式來保存樣品）。從船停泊的港口到採 樣站時間的並不一定，這跟研究站位相對於出海的碼頭之間的距離跟海況有關 ，短則數小時到一天，長則需要到一個禮拜，潛水艇從海水面下潛到海床所需 的時間則因水深而變，兩千六百米水深的地方需要大約一個半小時，四千米的 水深則需要到三個小時。
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4.
In the article, the tubings of the MPS need to be filled with clean water. What is
the main reason?
文章中提到採水器的水管在下放前都需要灌入乾淨的水，為什麼呢？
If we do not
fill the tubing with water the pressure at depth will cause the tubing to
collapse on itself.
因為如果我們沒有把管子灌滿水，管子中的空氣在下放過程中會因為水壓變大而被壓縮而把管子弄壞。
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5.
Will
the water burst out when you pump
out the groundwater? Will those devices be damaged by water?
當你們在採海洋岩石圈中的地下水時，水會灌爆你們的採樣儀器嗎？
It takes a very strong pump
to pull water from hundreds of meters below the seafloor through skinny
tubing. But the water does not end up
pumping too fast, so it is unlikely to damage the systems’ parts.
我們的超強打水系統是很有力的，因為要把水從幾百米深的地方經過直徑只有0.6公分的管子抽到海床上的採樣袋。但即使如此，我們也不會打太快，水壓並不夠大到會把儀器弄壞。
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6.
What kind of plads you will choose to start to observe? “plads”?
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7.
If you are going to pump out the sediments, then into the well. Will be
seawater or underground water? Will these two be mixed?
採水時是先經過沈積物然後才進入觀測井中，那海水跟海底岩層地下水是否會混和呢？
The subseafloor
(or ‘underground’) consists of sediments on top of the rocky crust. We are collecting the fluids that circulate
through the rocky crust. The CORK
observatories go all the way through the sediments and into the rocky crust.
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海洋岩石中的水圈是在沈積物層下面了，我們的研究是要採得在海洋岩石中流動的水，海底水下觀測井是整個打穿過沈積物以及部分的岩石，開口的部份是在岩石中，因此正常情況下，我們採得的會是岩石中流動的水，而不是海水。
8.
How to ensure the sled can reach the location where we want to explore?
你們怎麼確定採樣雪橇可以降落在採樣地點的附近海床上呢？
We carefully
design the whole sled and all of its components to survive the trip from the
ocean surface to the seafloor. We then
carefully balance floatation and extra weights so that the sled will descend
straight to the seafloor, but not too fast.
Then we place acoustic (sound) sources on the sled so that we can
listen to it as it descends, thus knowing where it lands.
我們很小心的設計採樣雪橇，來確定雪橇上的儀器可以承受從海表面下沉到海床上的搖晃、碰撞與水壓變化等。
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9.
How to choose the location where we want to explore? Will we explore
the same location several times?
你們是怎麼選擇採樣地點的呢？你們會重複回到同樣的採樣點嗎？
It depends on a
combination of many factors including the questions being asked and the
resources available (including availability of ship and submersible,
distances between port and potential stations). Often we will return to the same station
many times to see how things vary over time and under different conditions
and to ask new questions.
我們會根據許多的條件來決定採樣地點，例如我們想要回答的科學問題是什麼？我們既有的資源與硬體設備是什麼？是否同時有研究船跟潛水艇供我們使用？預定採樣地點離陸地（港口）的遠近？通常我們會重複回去同樣的採樣地點，這樣讓我們可以對一個地方有更徹底的了解，又可以建立在既有的硬體設備上，並且也已經累積一些背景資料，可以依據時間跟情況的改變讓我們可以進行研究來回答新的問題。（卉婷註：例如鑽井跟設置觀測井時造成的擾動，隨著時間我們期待擾動會降低，而有機會回歸到自然情況，有時間序列的觀測，幫助我們更了解岩石水圈中的生物圈受到這個擾動而有的反應為何，或是不受干擾等等。）
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10.
How to solve the problem of the water pressure? How deep is the
distance we explore?
你們如何克服水壓可能造成的問題？你們探索的區域深度為何？
This summer we
will be working at depths of about 2,600 m.
That is about 260 times the pressure as at sea level! We either let the water enter all parts of
our equipment, or build very strong pressure vessels to protect our
electronics from seawater. (TINA’s
note: the pressure at 2600m is about 4000 pounds per square inch. It is
equivalent to have a car’s weight land on your thumb)
這個暑假，我們即將要去的海床深度是2600公尺左右，水壓是260大氣壓力，（卉婷註：相當於一輛汽車的重量分布在你的大拇指大小的面積上面！！）因此我們必須讓水（或油）灌到儀器的各種空隙中，或者是建造能夠承受高壓的裝置，把儀器放在裡面。
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11.
If the appliances are out of order when exploring, will any
technician be in company with? Do you have any alternative plan? Are the
appliances out of problem easily?
如果你們的儀器在探索的過程中壞掉了，會有技術人員可以即使處理嗎？會有替代方案嗎？你們的採樣儀器容不容易出狀況？
Oh yes! We try to bring all of the knowledge that
we need to fix our own equipment. We
also try to have spares for everything.
Often we also obtain the great help from experts on the ship and
submersible crews. Finally, we try to
keep in close communication with our shore-based engineers.
我們出海的時候，會帶足夠多的零件與資訊，我們一起出海的技術人員（志強）會盡他的努力幫我們維修出狀況的儀器，我們也尋求研究船與潛水艇的技術人員的協助，最後，我們也可以跟在陸地實驗室的工程師聯繫，取得他們的幫助。
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12.
How to conquer the difficulties of the ocean drilling, for
example, the backflow of the seawater?
你們要怎麼克服海洋鑽探時會遇到的困難，例如你們怎麼克服海水的逆流?
Well, there are
certainly many challenges in deep ocean drilling. Backflow of the seawater is usually not a problem unless the ship is
trying to drill into highly overpressured, hot hydrothermal or hydrochemical
(e.g., oil) environments. In these
cases, special drilling procedures must be used or not attempted.
深海鑽探的確是有相當多的困難與挑戰，但海水的逆流通常不是太大的問題，除非我們鑽探的地點下方的水文地質是適合海底地下水向上大量湧生的，例如在一些海底熱液或是油氣儲存區（卉婷註：油跟天然氣密度比水低，所以一開通以後，就會源源不絕的往上噴發），在這些特殊的區域，我們必須使用特別的鑽井設備與鑽探過程，有時候，我們會因為安全理由選擇避開鑽探這類的區域。
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13.
What is the relation between the groundewater underneath the
ocean floor and the microbes?
海水下地下水跟微生物之間的關係為何？
Like in any
ecosystem, the ‘groundwater’ is important as a transport mechanism for
required nutrients and for assisting in the many chemical reactions that are
involved in microbial metabolisms.
就像是任何一個生態系，在我們的研究環境中，在海洋岩石中流動的地下水是運輸營養物質與能量，而且水是維持生物新陳代謝的必需條件。
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14.
Making the observation must take a lot of time, so what did you
do then?
你們的觀測過程似乎需要花很多的時間，你們都在做什麼？
Yes, some
observations and samplings take many hours.
While we ‘wait’ some of us must still monitor all of the equipment to
make sure nothing goes wrong.
Otherwise, others are free up to run or do other work, grab a snack or
take a nap.
是的，我們在一個採樣站所花的觀測與採樣的時間通常要花上數個鐘頭，當我們在等待採水或是過濾水的時候，我們還是得隨時監測我們的採樣儀器，必需確保採樣裝置的是否仍正常運作。通常我們會輪流派人去觀測與監測儀器，其他人則可以開始準備樣品到船上時的分析與實驗裝置，有的人可以趁機去打個盹，儲備精力。
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15.
How much money did you spend on this research, and where did the
money come from?
你們研究花大概多少錢？這些錢從哪裡來？
Oceanographic
research in general and this sort of seafloor research using submersibles in
particular are expensive. The ship
plus submersible costs on the order of
$45,000 a day. Add to that the
costs of all scientists’ salaries, all the supplies, equipment, travel and
shipping, it is very expensive. Most
of our research support comes from the U.S. National Science Foundation
(e.g., our Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigation), as well as NASA
Astrobiology Institute.
我們從事的海洋研究工作因為需要用到潛水艇，所需的費用特別高昂。畢竟光研究船加上潛水艇一天的費用就要一百三十五萬台幣左右，還得加上所有科學家的薪水、儀器、耗財、旅費、儀器的運費等等。我們的研究經費主要來至美國的國科會（例如黑暗生物圈研究計畫），以及美國太空總署的外星生物學研究所。
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16.
What kinds of information can the depositopn you gathered prove?
（柯恩教授看不懂這個問題….我也不太懂耶！）
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17.
Can we use the water we get immediately? Or the water might go
through the machine to clean it? Is this water really necessary?
我們可以直接使用這個水嗎？或者是我們得清潔這個水？我們真的需要這些水嗎？（我猜這位學生應該誤會了，我們採的海下地下水是鹹水，不可以直接拿來當飲用水的。）
We try very,
very hard to NOT change anything about the water that we collect from the subseafloor. When we say that the samples are super
clean, we mean that they are uncontaminated by the sampling process; that the
water reflects what it is like in the subseafloor environment.
我們很努力的不要改變我們所採得的水，當我們說我們採到的水是非常乾淨的，指得是我們採得的水不太受我們的採樣過程污染。也代表分析我們採得樣水的組成以及水裡面的微生物組成，都是可以代表海洋岩石中水圈與生物圈的。
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18.
What is difference between under ocean water and ocean water?
海洋岩石圈中的地下水跟海水有什麼不同？
Crustal fluids (the type of subseafloor fluids that
we are collecting this summer) are basically bottom seawater that has been
circulating in the crust. The degree
to which these fluids are different from ocean bottom water depends on the
location. Where we are going this
summer, the crustal fluids are depleted in (have less of) magnesium, oxygen,
nitrate, phosphate and sulfate, while it is enriched in (has more of)
ammonium, manganese and iron. The
crustal fluids at our field site are also quite a bit warmer (64 degrees C)
than bottom seawater (less than 2 degrees C).
海洋岩石圈中的地下水源自與底層海水，但是因為灌進去的海水在岩石縫隙中已經流動了一陣子了（數十年到上萬年之久），有些成分已經開始改變了，例如水中的溶氧濃度、硝酸根離子、磷酸根離子、硫酸根離子跟鎂離子的濃度都漸漸變低，而水中的氨離子、錳跟鐵離子的濃度都漸漸變高。這個暑假要去的胡安·德富卡洋脊側翼（Juan de Fuca Ridge flank）區域的海下地下水，水溫高達攝氏64度，而附近的底層海水溫度只有攝氏2度。
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19.
Have you discovered any living things in the underocean water
you draw out?
你們從採得的海下地下水中有沒有發現到生物？
You bet. We have found that there is a rich diversity
of microorganisms (bacteria and archaea).
These organisms live attached to the rock surfaces along fractures as
well as in the circulating fluids.
我們從基因證據中發現在海下地下水中有種類繁多的微生物，包含細菌與古菌，我們推測這些生物應該是附著於岩壁上生活以及在水體中浮游的生物。
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20.
What kind of difficulties do you face during this mission?
你們接下來的航次會遇到最大的挑戰為何？
The same as
always: we must make due with what we
bring with us; there are no stores nearby.
The weather can deteriorate making it difficult or impossible to work
for a period of hours to days.
Equipment can break and must be fixed.
We must also be careful that no one is injured.
我們最大的挑戰永遠是一樣的：我們必須確定我們攜帶研究要用的儀器與設備，包含維修所需的零件，以備儀器出狀況時需要，因為當我們航行出去以後，附近是不會有商家讓我們可以去採買的。天氣也可能是很大的挑戰，如果我們運氣不好遇到大風浪（卉婷註：在台灣附近作研究更可以體會，冬天有東北季風，夏天有颱風），就會讓我們的研究進度大大落後。我們也要非常小心不要有人員受傷。（卉婷註：在茫茫大海中，如果沒有隨行船醫，要進行急救是更困難的，即使有船醫，有的醫療設備不甚完整。）
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21.
What is the motivation to get the underocean water?
你們研究海水下地下水的動機為何？
The subseafloor
rocky crust is the largest aquifer on earth.
It is a huge volume of unexplored and poorly understood environment. It has a potentially huge biosphere, with
an interesting and dynamic community of organisms living under extreme
conditions of high pressure, high temperatures, low nutrients and limited and
varied fluid flow rates. We must learn
more about this last frontier on earth.
海洋地殼覆蓋的面積相當廣泛，在這個岩石圈中流動的水圈所佔的體積相當的大，但我們對這個水圈並不太瞭解，這個水圈所能孕育的生物圈更是尚未被研究（卉婷註：柯恩教授是全世界第一個嘗試研究這個生物圈的科學家之一）。我們很想要知道這個微生物圈的生物種類為何？微生物族群變化為何？微生物是如何在這個沒有陽光、低營養鹽、高壓、高溫（～65度）的環境下生存？
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22.
What should you put into consideration when choosing the
location to draw out underocean water?
你們是怎麼選擇採集海下地下水的研究地點？
You need to
think about what questions you are asking; what do you already know about
potential new sites with respect to other sites; what kind of comparisons
would be important to draw out a more complete understanding of the global
subseafloor biosphere. You also have
to think of practical things like how close are ports of call for the ship to
pick up people and supplies and how expensive will be to get the ship to the
station, especially if you want to make repeat visits to the station. Are there already other assets at the
potential new sites (e.g., already drilled?)
我們必須先知道我們想回答的科學問題為何？瞭解新的研究地點相對與既有的研究地點有什麼優異之處？什麼樣的研究地點所得到的結果可以幫我們更瞭解整個地球的海床下生物圈的？要考慮距離陸地的遠近，尤其如果希望選取的採樣地點是允許妳重複回去採樣的？也要考慮希望的研究地點附近是否已有鑽探過的洞了（卉婷註：這樣可以節省鑽井所需的經費）？
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23.
After drawing the underocean water, how to learn the fluid of underocean water? If this technique
is getting more and more advanced, and even common, will it help to solve the
lack of world water resource?
(We will answer these questions soon.)
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24.
How to put the monitoring well on the right site?
(We will answer this question soon.)
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25.
Why do you study the microbe under the seabed?
(We will answer this question soon.)
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26.
Does the thickness of the crust influence the height of groundwater?
海洋地殼的厚度是否會影響海下地下水的水位高低？
Well, since the
fluids will fill all fractures and fissures within the rocky crust (as well
as all pore spaces within the sediments), the ‘height’, or thickness, of the
aquifer (holds the groundwater) is generally the same as the thickness of the
crust.
流動於海洋岩石中的水會填滿岩石中的縫隙，因此水圈的厚度基本上應該要跟岩石圈的厚度一樣。
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27.
How long do you have to stay on boat?
你們必需要待在船上多久？
This year we
will be on board the ship for about 14 days.
今年暑假的航次是十四天。
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28.
Do you need to work all day long?
在船上需要工作一整天嗎？
Work continues
on the ship 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But since there are many people doing many different things, there is
usually time to get some sleep. But we
all tend to work very long days.
在船上的工作是二十四小時，每天都要忙碌的，但我們會盡量互相幫忙，所以讓大家都可以輪流去補一下眠，但通常每天都會工作至少12到16個小時的。
卉婷註：我觀察過柯恩教授數次連續四十小時沒休息，而我自己的最記錄是三十小時，柯恩教授是太有責任感，所以想要確定所有事情都是正常運作下，才能去休息，而我是太貪心，一口氣答應要作太多實驗，只好硬著頭皮把實驗完成。現在我比較成熟了，不會再做這種把自己累得半死，出小小差錯就前功盡棄的決定。
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| Three weeks later (after our cruise), ducklings grew a lot. 三週的航次過去，昔日的小雁鴨都長大了 |
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