Kim space

原文網址：

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43120

acquired February 8, 2010

原文和翻譯

Part of the United Arab Emirates, the resort town of Dubai entered a period of dramatic urbanization at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Lacking oil, Dubai built its growth on finance, real estate, and tourism. With no surface water, few aquifers, and little rainfall, the city used desalinization plants to convert ocean water to freshwater, ornamenting the city with golf courses, gardens, and palm trees. Gigantic palm trees also sprouted along the coast—artificial islands made from sea-floor sand protected by rock breakwaters.

二十一世紀初，處在阿拉伯半島上組成的阿拉伯聯合大公國的酋長國之一的度假小鎮─杜拜，進入的一段劇烈的城市化過程。石油漸漸缺乏，迪拜的發展建立在金融，房地產，旅遊上。由於沒有地表水，含水層少，降雨量少，城市利用海水淡化機器，將海水轉換成淡水，此外也利用建立高爾夫球場、花園、棕櫚樹來裝飾城市。巨大的棕櫚樹也沿海岸發芽，從海底岩石則建造人工島並用防波堤保護。

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of part of Dubai, including the resort island of Palm Jumeirah, on February 8, 2010. Bare ground appears brown, vegetation appears red, water appears dark blue, and buildings and paved surfaces appear light blue or gray. This image is part of the Earth Observatory’s World of Change feature Urbanization of Dubai.

2010年2月8日NASA的Terra衛星帶有先進星載熱發射和反射輻射儀（ASTER）拍攝這張迪拜的一部分非真實色彩(false-color)影像，塗上包括棕櫚島度假勝地。裸露地面以棕色顯示，植被以紅色顯示，水以深藍色顯示，建築和鋪平的道路表面則以淡藍色或灰色顯示。此圖片是世界地球天文台所記錄到杜拜城市化特徵變化的一部分。

Compared to an image acquired in February 2009, this image shows little change, partly because most of the visible terrain is already developed, but also perhaps due to an economic decline that began in early 2009. Some additional development appears in the right half of the image, where new roads and clusters of buildings appear in what was previously sparsely vegetated land. A bright red circle not far from the right edge of the image shows where a manicured landscape has been watered. One of the accessory islands near Palm Jumeirah also glows bright red, indicating more well-watered vegetation.

相比於 2009年2月所拍攝到的影像，這張圖顯示變化不大，部分原因是因為大部分可見地形已經被開發完，但也可能是由於2009年年初的經濟衰退。一些額外的發展出現在影像的右半邊，新的道路和建築物區出現在以前植被稀少的土地。右邊不遠處的圖像顯示一個明亮的紅色圓圈顯示一個修剪整齊的景觀。棕櫚島附近的附屬群島之一也呈鮮紅色，說明有許多的精心澆灌植被。

Maintaining golf courses, gardens, and water parks is a challenge for any city in the United Arab Emirates. Rainfall is sparse and unpredictable, and less than 1 percent of the country’s land is arable. With many nonrenewable aquifers tapped, the nation has turned to alternate sources. Dubai relies heavily on desalination of ocean water, although the process has high energy requirements, and the reuse of wastewater.

維護高爾夫球場、花園和水上公園，是任何一個在阿拉伯聯合大公國的城市的一個巨大挑戰。雨量相當稀少和不可預測，不到1％的國家的土地是耕地。隨著許多不可再生的含水層的挖掘，國家已經轉向其他來源。儘管(海水淡化)這一套流程需要高能量，杜拜仍大量的依賴於海水的淡化以及廢水的回收。

心得

對於杜拜的最大印象莫過於帆船飯店了，一個世界少數七星級的飯店，以及利用大量舉債吸引許多投資客前來，的大興土木建造宏偉的建築物，強烈發展觀光業的企圖心。但令人好奇的是，在這樣一個缺水的沙漠地區，到底是如何建造成一個觀光業相當蓬勃的城市呢？在這篇文章中有提到，杜拜主要的淡水來源是利用海水淡化而來，而這張圖片也給我們看到了杜拜在都市化發展上的雄偉，圖中顯示許多植被以及建築物，尤其巨大的棕染樹人工島更是令人嘖嘖稱奇，讓我們得以想見其發展的蓬勃，更讓人難以想像這是在一個沙漠邊的城市。