The atmosphere that surrounds our planet is made up of 4 key layers, |
环绕地球的大气分为四层。 |
each very different. |
各自截然不同。 |
Although I am above the clouds, I am still at the very bottom. |
虽然身在云上,我依旧位于最底层。 |
in a layer called troposphere. |
即:对流层。 |
It is a narrow band, usually little more than 10 kilometers thick, and it is where we all spend most of our lives. |
这一层很薄,通常比10公里厚不了多少。人类一生大部分时间都生活在这层中。 |
The troposphere is a rich soup of warm moist oxygen rich air. |
对流层包括丰富的暖湿气体,氧气含量高。 |
It is unstable, chaotic, and unpredictable. |
它并不稳定,混乱无序,无法预测。 |
but life depends upon it. |
然而,生命却依赖它。 |
And in just a couple of minutes, I will be leaving it behind. |
几分钟之内,我就将离开对流层。 |
so this is the height that jumbo jets cruise? |
现在就是喷气机的巡航高度吧。 |
I am now at 40 thousand feet above the Earth. |
现在我距地面高度为4万英尺。 |
that is about 12 km |
约合12公里。 |
Out there pressure's less than 20% of what it is on the ground. |
外面的气压还不到地表的20%。 |
and the temperature is about minus 60 degrees centigrade. |
温度约为零下60度。 |
just a bit higher. |
再高一点的话, |
and that low pressure would mean that my body fluids |
如此的低压意味着我的体液, |
would boil, I'd die in seconds. So I'm pretty glad to be in here. |
将会沸腾,我会猝死。所以,呆在机舱内,我很高兴。 |
OK so you're ready to supersonic. |
OK,准备好超音速没有? |
OK here we go. |
好的,走。 |
We're about to go supersonic. |
我们马上要超音速飞行。 |
We are doing Mach 1 and 4g. |
现在是1马赫,4倍重力。 |
That's the G-spot. |
真够刺激的。 |
We are approaching 45,000 feet, and we are about to cross an invisible boundary in the atmosphere. |
我们逐渐接近4万5千英尺高度,马上就要穿越大气中一处隐形边界。 |
We are leaving behind the first layer, the troposphere. |
我们就要离开第一层,对流层。 |
and entering the stratosphere. |
并进入同温层。 |
A very different place. |
同温层非常不同。 |
Here the air is stable, and exceptionally dry. |
同温层的气体稳定,极其干燥。 |
so there is virtually no whether. |
实际上这里没有任何气候现象。 |
The stratosphere is home to the Ozone layer. |
臭氧层就位于同温层。 |
which reduces the amount of lethal solar radiation reaching the Earth. |
臭氧层减少了到达地面的太阳致命辐射。 |
We've reached 50,000 feet, or 15 km. |
现在高度是5万英尺,即15公里。 |
Nearly 90% of the gases that make up the atmosphere are below me. |
大气层里90%的气体都在我下方。 |
Absolutely nothing above me. Black sky. Black Sky. Well dark blue. |
我的上方干脆就没有任何东西。天空是黑色的,黑色的。好吧,是深兰色。 |
This is the highest I've been. |
这是我到过的最高的地方。 |
But the atmosphere stretches on high above me. |
不过,大气层向着比我还高的地方延伸。 |
It gradually fades away into space, which is another 85 km above my head. |
它逐渐减弱,消失在太空。从这里算起还有85公里。 |
This is as high as this plane can take me. |
这已经是这架喷气机能够到达的最高高度。 |
The return to Earth is even quicker than the journey up. |
重返地球的旅程比上天还快。 |
Although my return to reality takes a little longer. |
当然,重回现实花了我更多时间。 |
Terra Firma. |
坚实大地啊。 |
Fantastic. |
真棒。 |
It looks different from here. |
这里望向天空,完全不同啊。 |
But almost 50 years ago, one man went much, much higher than me. |
几乎50年前,有个人上得比我高得多。 |
And he experienced the atmosphere in a completely different way. |
他以完全不同的方式体验大气层。 |
On Aug. 16th, 1960, long before man had set foot on the moon, |
1960年8月16日,在人类踏足月球很久之前, |
Military pilot, Joe Kittinger, took a solo journey to the edge of space. |
部队飞行员Joe Kittinger独自一人,前往太空边缘。 |
Not in a rocket, |
不用火箭, |
but in a giant helium balloon. |
而是乘坐一个巨大的氢气球。 |
he reached 31 kilometer, |
他到达31公里处, |
high into the stratosphere, |
同温层高处, |
That is twice the height that I've reached, |
他的高度是我到达高度的2倍, |
Then, Kittinger did something astonishing. |
然后,惊人壮举。 |
He jumped. |
他纵身跃下。 |
This is the actual moment. |
这是当时的真实记录。 |
he felt to Earth, |
他向大地坠落, |
reaching a speed of almost 1000 km an hour. |
时速达到100公里, |
and yet he could feel absolutely nothing. |
然而他却完完全全没有任何感觉。 |
I have no ripple of the fabric of my pressure suit, and it was a very weird sensation, |
我身上的压力服没有任何起皱,感觉相当怪异, |
that I have no visual reference or anything, so I thought I was really suspended on space. |
没有任何视觉参照物,因此我觉得我真的是悬停在空中。 |
Only when he reentered the troposphere, the lower atmosphere, that he is experiencing the deafening, the reassuring roar of air rushing past him. |
只是在他重新进入对流层后,他才重新感受到呼啸穿过的气流发出的震耳欲聋的、让人安心的咆哮声。 |
Finally, he opened his parachute, |
最后,他打开降落伞。 |
his jump remains the longest free fall in history. |
这惊世一跃直至今日,依旧是史上最长的自由落体运动。 |
Just 15 minutes after he jumped, Kittinger was back on the ground. |
跃出气球仅仅15分钟后,他到达地面。 |
Falling from over 30 km high, |
从30公里高度落下, |
Kittinger have plummeted through 99% of the gases that makes up the atmosphere. |
他穿越了构成大气的99%气体。 |
15 minutes before I've been at the edge of space, and now to me here is the garden of Eden. |
15分钟前,我身在太空边缘,现在我好像身处伊甸园。 |
We really don't appreciate what a beautiful planet we have. |
我们的星球很漂亮,真该好好欣赏。 |
Although Kittinger have jumped from high in the stratosphere, he still didn't reach the furthest edge of our atmosphere. |
虽然kittinger从同温层上端跃下,他还是没能到达大气层的最远边界。 |
Above are two more protective layers. |
同温层上方还有保护性的两层。 |
so wispy and tenuous, they barely exist. |
这两层十分稀薄,恍如不存。 |
but they are both vital for our planet, and for us, |
但他们对地球及人类都至关重要。 |
Beyond the stratosphere, at about 50 km, lies the third layer. |
同温层之外,大约50公里处,是第三层: |
Mesosphere. |
中间层。 |
It is this layer the protect the earth from meteoroids. |
它保护地球免遭流星袭击。 |
When we see a shooting star, it is actually a meteor burning up high in the atmosphere. |
我们看见的流星,实际上是陨石在大气层高处燃烧。 |
The mesosphere is home to a strange phenomenon called noctilucent clouds. |
中间层有种特殊现象叫做:夜光云。 |
They are thin, wispy clouds that can only be seen at sunset, when they are illuminated from beneath by the low Sun. |
只有在日落时分,阳光由下方照射时,才能见到纤细轻薄的夜光云。 |
Finally, beginning at 85 km, there is the fourth and final layer |
最后,从85公里处开始的是第四层,也是最后一层: |
The thermosphere. |
热层。 |
The atmosphere is so thin here, that beyond 100 km, it is declared to be the beginnings of space. |
热层空气如此稀薄,在100公里之外,被称为太空的起始。 |
It is in this layer that space shuttle orbits the Earth. |
航天飞机在这一层环绕地球飞行。 |
It is also at here that the Sun's lethal solar wind is intercepted by Earth's magnet field, and diverted to Earth¡¯s poles, |
也是在这一层,致命的太阳风被地球磁场截击并转向到地球两极区域, |
creating the Aurora. |
形成了极光现象。 |
But there is another way of looking at the atmosphere, |
另有一种方式来理解大气层, |
if you could unwrap the atmosphere from the surface of the Earth, |
如果将大气层从地表剥离, |
and put it all into a ball, |
并作成一个球体, |
This is what it would look like, |
这就是球体的样貌。 |
In fact, the volume of atmosphere is just 5% of the earth. |
事实上,大气层的体积只相当于地球的5%。 |
The layer that we spend our lives in, the troposphere is just a narrow band, |
人类生活的对流层只是薄薄的一层, |
it is that thin, blue line around our planet. |
它是围绕地球的那淡淡兰线。 |
It is a finely balanced mixture of different gases essential for life. |
它是生命必须的各种气体的混合,并微妙地保持平衡。 |
but it also has a physical presence. |
但同时他也有自己的物理特征。 |
It gives the planet its climate, and even shapes the landscape. |
对流层创造了地球气候,甚至塑造地貌。 |
To understand the troposphere we live in, you have to think of it not just as a gas,but also as a fluid. |
为了理解人类生活其中的对流层,您必须不仅仅将空气想成气体,同时必须将空气想象成某种液体。 |
In fact, we live in the bottom of an ocean of air. |
事实上,我们生活在一个气体海洋的洋底。 |
Just like water, air has turbulence. |
和水一样,空气具有湍流。 |
These clouds are formed as the air creates eddy currents, flowing around the tips of mountain. |
环绕山峰流淌时,气体形成漩涡,造就了这些云。 |
Tornadoes are like giant whirlpools. |
龙卷风就相当于巨型漩涡。 |
And just like the ocean, the troposphere even has waves. |
和海洋一样,对流层甚至还有波浪。 |
This cloud in Queensland, Australia is actually the largest wave in the world. |
位于澳大利亚昆士兰的这片云其实是世界上最大的波浪。 |
It can reach 2 km high. |
厚度可达2公里。 |