Name: 湾流の説明 (The Gulf Stream Explained)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T05:44:34.000Z
Duration: 5 min 5 s

The ocean conveyor belt and the Gulf Stream.

Ocean currents have a direct influence on our lives.

海の流れは 私たちの生活に影響する

They determine our weather, our climate, and much more.

天気や気候が これで決まるのだ

海流と風は 熱を赤道から極へと運ぶ

transport heat from the equator to the poles

気候のエンジンのようなものだ

and operate like a large engine for the global climate.

In the oceans, there are numerous currents.

海流の循環は気候にとって重要だ

The so-called ocean conveyor belt is very important for our climate.

This term describes a combination of currents

that result in four of the five global oceans exchanging water with each other.

They form a worldwide circulation system.

この循環は熱塩循環とも呼ばれ

The conveyor belt is also called the thermohaline circulation,

熱は温度 塩は塩分を意味している

with “thermo” referring to the temperature,

and “haline” to the salt content of the water.

While the masses of water may be moved in part by wind,

primarily the different densities of the global oceans are

Warm water has a lower density and rises while cold water sinks.

塩分の量が多くても密度は高まる

The water’s density also increases with a higher salt content.

At the equator the heat from the sun is especially strong,

熱で水を蒸発させ 塩分濃度を上げる

resulting in a lot of evaporation and thus a rise in the water’s salt content.

The Gulf Stream is very important for the European climate.

メキシコ湾流は全長１万キロで

Its length of 10,000 km makes it one of the largest and fastest currents on Earth,

At roughly 2 m/s it brings up to 100,000,000 m³ of water per second

毎秒１億立方メートルの水を運ぶ

A constantly blowing wind, the southeast trade wind,

水の表面を温め メキシコ湾に流れる

drives warm surface water to the northwest, into the

Gulf of Mexico, where it heats up to 30 °C.

折り返すと西風と共に東へ進み

The turning of the Earth and the west winds then direct

the Gulf Stream towards Europe and split it up.

One part flows south, another east to the Canary Current,

一つは北に流れ これらが熱を放出

and a third part flows north where it releases a lot of heat

into the atmosphere as the North Atlantic Current.

蒸発もあり 塩分濃度が高まるため

Its salt content and density rise on the account of evaporation

ここで大規模な水の沈降が見られる

and it drops down between Greenland, Norway, and Iceland.

There we also find the largest waterfall on Earth.

そこでは直径15キロの水の柱が

The so-called Chimneys, roughly 15-km-wide pillars with water falling up to 4,000 m.

17,000,000 m³ of water per second, or roughly 15 times more water than

is carried by all the rivers in the world.

世界のすべての川の 15倍の水量だ

This creates a strong maelstrom, which constantly pulls in new water

強力な渦が作られて水を引っ張り

and is the reason that the Gulf Stream moves towards Europe.

Countless species use the Gulf Stream as a means of transport on their trips

an enormous quantity of warm air also comes with it.

In order to produce the same heat that it brings to the shores of Europe,

we would need 1,000,000 nuclear power plants.

That’s why we also call the Gulf Stream a heat pump.

Without it, the temperature would be significantly colder here,

Instead of lush fields, we would have long winters and sparse ice-covered

森は消え ヨーロッパは雪に覆われる

In the last few years, scientists and pundits in the media have repeatedly

expressed the fear that the Gulf Stream could come to a standstill

Because if the polar caps actually melt, the salt content in the water

塩分濃度が下がる恐れがあるからだ

off Greenland would fall, as would its density.

The North Atlantic Current would no longer be heavy enough,

In the worst case, that would bring the Gulf Stream, our heat pump, to a stop.

Some climate experts also assume that climate change could

We know that it can be normal for the climate to change

by looking at the development of the Earth over the last few million years.

気候変動は普通の現象だと言える

In the last ice age, a gigantic flood of melting water crippled

先の氷河期は 溶解水が海流を止め

the heat-bringing North Atlantic Current, covering the northern hemisphere in ice.

北半球が氷で覆われたものだった

Scientists have different views on the impact that climate change will have

on the global ocean conveyor belt, but one thing is clear:

when the climate changes, then the complex system of ocean currents and winds,

which has remained fairly stable since the last ice age,

will change in ways that we don’t yet understand.

複雑な 長く安定していたものが