VOA慢速英語: 如何經(jīng)受太陽風暴（雙語）

如何經(jīng)受太陽風暴

Powerful winds from the sun affect the earth’s atmosphere. These solar winds cause the beautiful aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights. These winds are also responsible for many of the power outages that affect modern electrical systems.

強風是太陽對地球大氣影響作用的結果。這些太陽風產生了漂亮的極光——人們熟知的北極光。不過這些風跟現(xiàn)代電力系統(tǒng)的斷電也有關系。

The sun’s energy creates light and heat. It also produces charged electrical particles and magnetic fields. The sun can keep the earth nice and warm and helps our crops to grow. But a sudden burst of that solar energy can cause a power outage. William Murtagh is with the National Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

太陽產生光和熱，也產生帶電離子和磁場。太陽能讓地球美麗溫暖，有助于作物生長。但是突然爆發(fā)的太陽能量會引發(fā)斷電。威廉姆·穆塔夫在位于科羅拉多州波爾德的美國太空氣象預報中心工作。

“As recently as 2003, a big geomagnetic storm during that period we call the Halloween Storms produced a blackout in Malmo, Sweden, the city of Malmo,Sweden and damaged transformers in the Escombe Network in South Africa.”

“早在2003年，那時候發(fā)生一場大的地磁暴，我們稱之為萬圣節(jié)磁暴，在瑞典的馬爾摩導致斷電，對南非Escombe網(wǎng)絡的變壓器造成損壞。”

The National Space Weather Prediction Center is part of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Prediction Center provides continually up-to-date forecasts to power companies, government agencies, the satellite industry and airline companies. It even shares these reports with users of global positioning system equipment.

美國太空氣象預報中心是美國海洋及大氣管理局的一部分。氣象預報中心連續(xù)不斷地為電力公司、政府機構、衛(wèi)星行業(yè)以及航空公司提供最新的天氣預報，甚至為使用全球定位系統(tǒng)的用戶分享這些天氣報道。

The aurora borealis is seen over the town of Hyvinkaa in southern Finland October 31, 2003.

2003年10月1號在芬蘭的海文卡鎮(zhèn)看到了北極光。

The normal solar forecast is hot, sunny and worry-free. But sometimes satellites near the sun observe huge orange geysers. These explosions can produce magnetized winds, which continue into space. A solar storm generally takes at least half a day to reach the earth. So at first, says William Murtagh, the Prediction Center describes the solar activity as a “watch.”

正常的太陽活動預報是火熱、陽光充足、無需擔憂。但是有時候靠近太陽的衛(wèi)星看到的是一個巨大的橙色的火球。這些爆炸會產生磁化風，會持續(xù)進入太空。太陽風暴通常要用至少半天的時間才能達到地球。因此，威廉姆·穆塔夫說，起初天氣預報中心描述太陽的活動為“監(jiān)測”。

“So a geomagnetic storm watch is somewhat like a hurricane watch when there’s hurricane sitting off shore of Miami and it’s a couple of days out.”

因此一場地磁風暴監(jiān)測就像颶風監(jiān)測，當颶風還靠近邁阿密海岸，兩三天都過去了。

In the final hour of its trip to earth, the storm passes a special satellite orbiting our planet. The satellite provides new clues about the power and size of the storm. Then scientists hurry to send the latest information.

在最后到達地球的幾個小時里，風暴經(jīng)過一個繞著地球的特別的衛(wèi)星。衛(wèi)星提供一些關于關于這中能量和風暴大小的最新線索。科學家就能迅速發(fā)布最新信息。

“So we can give all the folks that we gave a heads-up to a day or two earlier, we can say okay, it’s worse than we expected, it’s as expected, or maybe it’s a bit of a dud and is not going to be the impact we thought it might have hereon Earth.”

“所以我們能讓所有人知道我們提前一兩天發(fā)布的警告信息，我們可以說還好，比我們預計的要糟糕，正如我們的期待，或許風暴沒什么作用，并不是我們想的那種對地球產生的影響。”

Most storms are uneventful, or a bit of a dud, as he said. For larger storms, electric companies can direct power away from sensitive equipment and intense geomagnetic activity. But short-term outages are still possible. That is why hospitals, airports and other emergency centers are urged to keep back-up power generating equipment.

正如他說：“大多數(shù)太陽風暴是平靜的，或者說沒什么作用。”更大規(guī)模的風暴，敏感設備和強烈的地磁活動中，電力公司會直接斷電。但是短期的斷電還是可能發(fā)生。這就是為什么醫(yī)院、機場以及其他的急救中心配備備用設備發(fā)電。

But predictions might not help us through a super solar storm. William Murtagh describes what has been called the 1859 Carrington Event. It created Aurora lights that were seen all over the world. The storm affected telegraphs-- the main electrical device of the time.

但是預報也許不能幫助我們度過超級太陽風暴。威廉姆·穆塔夫描述1859年的卡林頓事件產生了在世界各地都能看到的北極光。風暴影響到當時最主要的電子設備——電報。

“I mean, what does that translate to, in our critical infrastructure, especially the power grid? That’s what we’re trying to understand now.”

“我的意思是用我們重要的基礎設施，特別是電網(wǎng)應該把那種現(xiàn)象翻譯成什么？這也是我們現(xiàn)在試圖要弄明白的。”

Researcher Scott McBride sends geomagnetic currents through high voltage transformers. During most storms, he says, technicians could study individual pieces of equipment to reduce the chance that they will be damaged. But if a Carrington-sized event hit today, it could affect a very large area.

研究員斯科特· 瑪克布萊德通過高電壓變壓器來傳輸?shù)卮鸥袘娏?。他說多數(shù)的風暴發(fā)生時，技術人員能夠研究獨立的單個設備，減少它們被損壞的幾率。但是如果卡林頓時間發(fā)生在今天，會影響很大一片地區(qū)。

During a big storm, he predicts, current loads would fluctuate – or rise and fall. He thinks that these fluctuating loads would destroy many transformers and that it would take a long time to replace them.

他預測在大風暴期間電流負載會有波動——上升或下降。他認為這些波動的電流將會損壞許多變壓器，那樣的話就得需要很長時間來替換它們。

Scott McBride says engineers are developing a transformer that could replaced amaged equipment in days, not months. And modern grounding systems can protect equipment. But these steps will cost time and money.

斯科特·瑪克布萊德說工程師正開發(fā)一種變壓器，能夠在幾天內，而不是數(shù)月內替代被損壞的設備?，F(xiàn)代的接地裝置能夠保護設備，但要達到這一步需要時間和金錢。

So what if the Space Weather Prediction Center found a strong likelihood of another Carrington Event? Mr. McBride says there is one more back-up plan.

那么倘若太空氣象預報中心能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)另外一個極像卡靈頓的事件?，斂瞬既R德說還有另一個備用計劃。

“Turning the power grid off would certainly protect it from a geomagnetic disturbance, but the socioeconomic impacts of de-energizing the power grid are so huge, it would be very difficult for somebody to actually make that decision.”

“關掉電網(wǎng)確實能夠保護電網(wǎng)免于地磁干擾，但是斷電網(wǎng)的社會經(jīng)濟影響太大了，對某人來說做這樣的決定確實很艱難。”

The experts say world leaders, power companies and major power users should start planning now so the world can weather a solar super storm.

專家說世界的領導人、電力公司和主要的電能使用者應該開始計劃，這樣世界才能經(jīng)受得住太陽超級風暴。

I’m Anne Ball.

我是安·貝爾。