NASA captured 20 years of changing seasons in a striking new global map of the home planet.

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）在一幅新的全球地图上捕捉到了20年来的季节变化。

The data visualization¹ shows Earth's fluctuations² as seen from space.

这一可视化数据展示了在太空中看到的地球的波动变化。

The polar ice caps and snow cover are shown ebbing³ and flowing with the seasons. The varying ocean shades of blue, green, red and purple depict⁴ the abundance - or lack - of undersea life.

显而易见，极地冰盖和积雪都随季节的变化而变化。蓝色、绿色、红色和紫色的不同海洋阴影，描绘了海底世界的丰富或缺乏。

"It's like watching the Earth breathe. It's really remarkable," said NASA oceanographer Jeremy Werdell, who took part in the project.

参与了这一项目的NASA海洋学者杰里米·维尔德尔表示：“这就像是在看地球呼吸，这真的很了不起。”

Two decades- from September 1997 to this past September - are crunched⁵ into 2.5 minutes of viewing.

从1997年9月到今年9月的这二十年，被压缩为这两分半钟的影像。

Werdell finds the imagery mesmerizing⁶. "It's like all of my senses are being transported into space, and then you can compress time and rewind it, and just continually watch this kind of visualization," he said.

维尔德尔称，这段影像太令人着迷了。他说：“就像把我所有感受传输至宇宙中，然后你可以随意快进、倒带，并反复地观看这种可视化的过程。”

Werdell said the visualization shows spring coming earlier and autumn lasting⁷ longer in the Northern Hemisphere. Also noticeable to him is the receding⁸ of the Arctic ice caps over time - and, though less obvious, the Antarctic, too.

维尔德尔表示，图像显示北半球的春天来得越来越早，秋天变得更长。同样值得注意的是，北极的冰盖正在慢慢消融，南极也是这个情况，虽然不太明显。

On the sea side, Werdell was struck by "this hugely productive bloom of biology" that exploded in the Pacific along the equator from 1997 to 1998 -- when a water-warming El Nino merged⁹ into cooling La Nina. This algae¹⁰ bloom is evident by a line of bright green.

在海洋方面，“这一巨大的生物繁荣”让维尔德尔大为震惊--从1997年到1998年，在赤道附近的太平洋突然爆发--当时的厄尔尼诺暖流与拉尼娜寒流相融合。通过那一条显眼的绿带很明显的看出海藻的猛增。

In considerably¹¹ smaller Lake Erie, more and more contaminating algae blooms are apparent - appearing red and yellow.

相对规模较小的伊利湖，其越来越多的污染藻类的大量繁殖显而易见，呈现出红色和黄色。

All this data can provide resources for policymakers as well as commercial fishermen and many others, according to Werdell.

维尔德尔认为，这些数据可以给政策制定者、商业捕鱼者以及其他人提供一些信息。