撲朔迷離:印度在安達曼海上找什麼
India has joined the multi-country search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing last weekend. The so-called 'Operation Search Light' has deployed Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force ships and aircraft to scour from the Andaman Sea to the Bay of Bengal.
印度加入了針對上週末失蹤的馬來西亞航空(Malaysia Airlines) MH370航班的多國搜救行動。印度在這項名爲“探照燈”(Operation Search Light)的任務中部署了海軍、海岸警衛隊以及空軍艦艇和飛機在安達曼海至孟加拉灣海域進行搜尋。What are all of them looking for?
他們的搜尋目標是什麼？They'll likely be looking for things like the missing airline's seat cushions, life jackets, or potentially dead bodies which would float on the water, says Admiral Arun Prakash, former chief of the Naval Staff, and first Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command.
前印度海軍總司令、印度三軍安達曼-尼科巴小組(Andaman & Nicobar Command)第一總司令Admiral Arun Prakash稱，可能的搜尋目標包括漂浮在海面的失蹤客機的座椅墊、救生衣以及可能遇難乘客的屍體。
Admiral Prakash says that aircraft are supposed to have a beacon which transmits a signal, and can be used to find its location. But if there is no signal emanating from this aircraft, then the Indian search party is likely looking mainly for debris, he says. Rather than sophisticated equipment, the search vehicles are likely simply making a visual search with binoculars.
Admiral Prakash表示，失蹤客機上應該有一個可以發射信號的信號燈，用來確定飛機的方位。他稱，如果飛機沒有發送信號，那麼印度搜救隊伍可能主要搜尋飛機碎片。搜尋工作中不會使用高級設備，搜尋人員將主要利用望遠鏡進行肉眼搜尋。He says the effectiveness of this search will hinge on the accuracy of the area from where the search is starting, which is called 'search datum' in naval terminology. 'First question is, where should I start looking?' says Admiral Prakash.
Admiral Prakash稱，這種搜尋的效果將取決於搜尋工作開始海域的準確度，用海軍術語來說，就是“搜尋基點”(search datum)。他表示，第一個要問的問題是，從哪裏開始搜尋？He said the search team would take a compass and draw arcs around this search datum, and create expanding squares or expanding circles, to broaden the search area.
Admiral Prakash稱，搜尋隊伍會攜帶指南針，在搜尋基點周圍畫弧線，然後以正方形或圓形擴大面積，以此擴大搜尋區域。
