深海之下,有著許多的資源蘊藏在其中,例如天然氣、石油、金屬礦床等等,然而要找到這些珍貴的資源,就必須要先知道海床之下的地質構造,才能有效率地進行開採。怎麼樣才能知道海底下是什麼樣子呢?美國奧勒岡州立大學 (Oregon State University) 的兩位科學家在近日發表了一種新方法,那就是聽鯨魚唱歌!1
而鯨魚的位置也可以從聲音來判斷,根據從直線抵達地震儀的聲音訊號,以及經過反射後才抵達的訊號間的時間差,可以推算出鯨魚和地震儀之間的距離。知道了距離之後,還需要方向與深度才能確定鯨魚的位置,地震儀可以記錄方位,但鯨魚的深度卻無法得知,還好長鬚鯨大多只在水下二十米以內的深度活動,因此 Kuna 和 Nábělek 假設鯨魚的深度為十公尺,這樣一來就可以推測出鯨魚所在的位置,也就可以正式開始震測圖的繪製了。
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Kuna和Nábělek從三個地震儀中各別分析了兩首歌,總共有六首歌,也就是得到了六個震測結果。結果顯示在每個地震儀的兩首歌之間,所計算出來不論是 P 波和 S 波的波速,或者是玄武岩之上的海洋沉積物厚度,都有著相近的數據,代表了長鬚鯨的歌聲確實可以被用來作為震測的音源。
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可是海上的風就是比陸地上強上好幾倍,這麼香的風力來源怎麼能放著不用呢?來自挪威的公司 World Wide Wind 提出了一種浮標式風電機組,省去了海底工程的麻煩。這種風電機組採用垂直軸的設計,這樣機組就不會被海風吹著跑。整個裝置可以靠著海面下的配重平衡地直立在海面上,除了電纜之外不須要任何固定措施。這大大地擴展了離岸風電的發展空間。許多最佳的風場位在離岸較遠的深海區域,我們沒辦法在這些海床上豎立巨大的水平軸風車,這時候就可以透過漂浮式構造來擴張風電的勢力範圍。