The reason the whales come to the seas around Iceland is the abundance of krill.
鯨類們來到冰島周邊海域的原因是此處生活著大量的磷蝦。
Krill are a small shrimp-like crustacean and can be found around all of the world's oceans.
磷蝦是一種類似蝦的甲殼動物,在全世界的海洋中都可以見到它們。
But the waters around Iceland are particularly fertile at this time of the year, a result of the warmth from the North Atlantic Gulf Stream mixing with icy waters of the Arctic Ocean.
然而每年的這個時候,冰島周邊海域的養分都非常充沛,這是溫暖的北大西洋暖流與北冰洋冰冷的海水交匯的結果。
These nutrient rich waters create giant blooms of phytoplankton, the krill feed on the phytoplankton and their population soar, attracting the whales.
這些富含養分的海水使重要浮游植物的生長極為旺盛,磷蝦以這些重要浮游植物為食,而它們數量的激增吸引來了鯨類。
In fact, the krill are so abundant, it's estimated that their sum weight exceeds that of all the humans on earth. Such numbers are essential when you are on the menu for the planet's largest creatures.
實際上,磷蝦的數量非常充足,據估計,它們的總重量超過了地球上所有人類的重量總和。作為地球上體型最大動物的主食,這樣的數量是極為重要的。
To consume their daily requirement of one and a half million calories, the blue whales can swallow up to forty million krill.
為了滿足每天一百五十萬卡路里的熱量消耗,藍鯨每天會吞下四千萬只的磷蝦。
Once digested, the waste is emitted. Known as marine snow, it's transported by deep water currents to a depth nearly one thousand meters to the ocean floor.
在經過消化后,殘留物會被排出。這被稱為“海洋雪”,它們隨后被深海中的水流帶到近一千米深的海底。
Down here, Iceland's volcanic origins give rise to life that goes against everything science thought possible.
在這,海底深處冰島的火山之源卻哺育了某些生命,這本是自然科學認為是不可能發生的現象。
These are hydro thermal vents and they spout a super heated cocktail of minerals and chemicals from deep within the earth crust. At temperatures up to four hundred degree Celsius.
這些是海底火山熱液噴口,它們從地殼深處噴射出一種溫度極高的礦物質和化學物質的混合物,其溫度高達攝氏四百度。
而且從沒有光線能照射到這樣的深度。
These extreme conditions were once thought to prevent life, but heat loving organisms have been discoveredliving in this scalding vent fluid.
這些極端條件曾被認為會使生命無法生存,但目前已發現有嗜熱生物生存在這些滾燙的噴射液中。
With no light to provide energy, these incredible bacteria are able to create their own from the chemicalsin the vent fluid.
因為沒有光照提供能量,這些難以置信的細菌竟能從噴射液中的化學物質里合成能量。
These bacteria serve up a twenty four hour buffet for some remarkable species of shrimp.
這些細菌為某些不同尋常的蝦類提供了24小時的食物。
Some have adapted to exist at such depth by actually collecting and growing the energy creating bacteria on their own bodies.
有些(細菌)實際上通過獲取嗜熱菌合成的能量,并將其轉化為自身能量來適應在這樣的深海生存。
Without the bacteria, the shrimp could not exist, so they must fight to remain close to the vents.
如果沒有嗜熱菌,這些蝦類將無法生存,因此它們必須為留在噴射口附近而戰。
This could be how our life and our planet began.
我們的地球與生命也許就是這樣開始的。