2022年12月19日 VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：研究:湯加火山將顆粒和水噴射到大氣中

 

New research shows that the Tonga volcano sent large amounts of particles and water vapor into the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere.
新的研究表明，湯加火山將大量顆粒和水蒸氣送入地球大氣層的上游。
 
Scientists used satellite equipment to measure the plume created by the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai undersea volcano. The blast, or eruption, of the volcano happened in January in the South Pacific near the island nation of Tonga.
科學(xué)家們使用衛(wèi)星設(shè)備測(cè)量了 Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai 海底火山產(chǎn)生的羽流?；鹕奖l(fā)或噴發(fā)于 1 月發(fā)生在島國(guó)湯加附近的南太平洋。
 
The 10-minute eruption caused a series of large ocean waves, known as a tsunami, to hit areas around the world. The huge plume the volcano created included smoke, gas and water vapor.
10 分鐘的噴發(fā)引發(fā)了一系列被稱為海嘯的巨大海浪襲擊了世界各地。火山產(chǎn)生的巨大羽流包括煙霧、氣體和水蒸氣。
 
Researchers at Britain's University of Oxford studied the size of the plume and examined data showing how high it reached into the sky. They reported in a recent study in the publication Science the volcano produced the highest-ever reported plume.
英國(guó)牛津大學(xué)的研究人員研究了羽流的大小，并檢查了顯示它升入天空的高度的數(shù)據(jù)。他們?cè)谧罱l(fā)表在《科學(xué)》雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究中報(bào)告說，這座火山產(chǎn)生了有史以來最高的羽流。
 
The plume was the first to have broken through to the "mesosphere" level, or layer, of Earth's atmosphere, the scientists said.
科學(xué)家們說，羽流是第一個(gè)突破到地球大氣層“中間層”水平或?qū)拥摹?br />  
The mesosphere is the third-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere and the troposphere, which starts at the Earth's surface. The mesosphere rises to 85 kilometers high. Meteors burn up within this layer.
中間層是地球大氣層中第三高的層，高于平流層和對(duì)流層，從地球表面開始。中間層上升到 85 公里高。流星在這一層內(nèi)燃燒殆盡。
 
The Oxford scientists said images captured by satellites suggested the volcano's plume reached 57 kilometers into the sky. They said the previous record holder was Mount Pinatubo, which erupted in 1991. That volcano created a plume recorded as high as 40 kilometers.
牛津大學(xué)的科學(xué)家說，衛(wèi)星拍攝的圖像表明，火山的羽流高達(dá) 57 公里。他們說，之前的記錄保持者是 1991 年噴發(fā)的皮納圖博火山。那座火山產(chǎn)生的羽流高達(dá) 40 公里。
 
"It's the first time we've ever recorded a volcanic plume reaching the mesosphere," said Simon Proud, a scientist at Oxford and Britain's scientific research center RAL Space.
“這是我們第一次記錄到到達(dá)中間層的火山羽流，”牛津和英國(guó)科學(xué)研究中心 RAL Space 的科學(xué)家西蒙普勞德說。
 
Proud added that the only other volcanic plume that might have reached the mesosphere might have been released in the eruption in 1883 of Krakatau, a small volcanic island in Indonesia. "But we didn't see that in enough detail to confirm," he said.
Proud 補(bǔ)充說，唯一可能到達(dá)中間層的火山羽流可能是在 1883 年印度尼西亞的一個(gè)小火山島 Krakatau 噴發(fā)時(shí)釋放的。 “但我們沒有看到足夠的細(xì)節(jié)來確認(rèn)，”他說。
 
The researchers said progress in observational technology helped them reach their findings. The team used a method known as the "parallax effect" to measure the volcano's plume.
研究人員表示，觀測(cè)技術(shù)的進(jìn)步幫助他們得出了自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)。該團(tuán)隊(duì)使用一種稱為“視差效應(yīng)”的方法來測(cè)量火山的羽流。
 
The parallax effect describes a difference in the apparent position of an object when it is seen along two different lines of sight. The scientists said they used the parallax effect to examine the images captured from above by satellites.
視差效應(yīng)描述了當(dāng)沿兩條不同的視線觀察物體時(shí)物體的表觀位置的差異?？茖W(xué)家們說，他們使用視差效應(yīng)來檢查衛(wèi)星從上方捕獲的圖像。
 
Proud said his team was helped by satellites that recorded images every 10 minutes after the eruption, permitting them to document quick changes in the plume's movements.
Proud 說他的團(tuán)隊(duì)得到了衛(wèi)星的幫助，這些衛(wèi)星在噴發(fā)后每 10 分鐘記錄一次圖像，使他們能夠記錄羽流運(yùn)動(dòng)的快速變化。
 
"Thirty years ago, when Pinatubo erupted, our satellites were nowhere near as good as they are now," he said. "They could only scan the earth every 30 minutes. Or maybe even every hour."
“三十年前，當(dāng)皮納圖博火山爆發(fā)時(shí)，我們的衛(wèi)星遠(yuǎn)沒有現(xiàn)在那么好，”他說。 “他們只能每 30 分鐘掃描一次地球。甚至可能每小時(shí)掃描一次。”
 
In a separate study, NASA researchers reported in August that the Tonga volcano also blasted a huge amount of water vapor into Earth's atmosphere.
在另一項(xiàng)研究中，美國(guó)宇航局研究人員在 8 月份報(bào)告說，湯加火山還向地球大氣層噴射了大量水蒸氣。
 
The space agency researchers said the vapor reached into the stratosphere, which stretches 50 kilometers high. But the amount of water vapor blasted into the atmosphere would have been enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
航天局研究人員說，蒸汽進(jìn)入了 50 公里高的平流層。但噴射到大氣中的水蒸氣量足以填滿 58,000 多個(gè)奧林匹克規(guī)格的游泳池。
 
"We've never seen anything like it," said Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“我們從未見過這樣的事情，”加州美國(guó)宇航局噴氣推進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室的大氣科學(xué)家路易斯·米蘭說。
 
Millán examined data from an instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, which measures atmospheric gases, including water vapor. After the Tonga volcano erupted, NASA scientists started seeing extremely high vapor readings.
Millán 檢查了來自 NASA Aura 衛(wèi)星儀器的數(shù)據(jù)，該衛(wèi)星測(cè)量大氣氣體，包括水蒸氣。湯加火山爆發(fā)后，美國(guó)宇航局的科學(xué)家們開始看到極高的蒸氣讀數(shù)。
 
The NASA study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, estimated the plume injected an amount of vapor equal to about 10 percent of the water that already existed in the stratosphere. That was nearly four times the amount of water vapor scientists estimate the Mount Pinatubo eruption sent into the stratosphere, the researchers said.
NASA 發(fā)表在《地球物理研究快報(bào)》上的研究估計(jì)，羽流注入的水蒸氣量相當(dāng)于平流層中已經(jīng)存在的水量的 10% 左右。研究人員說，這幾乎是科學(xué)家估計(jì)皮納圖博火山噴發(fā)進(jìn)入平流層的水蒸氣量的四倍。
 
NASA said the large amount of water vapor could have been enough to temporarily affect Earth's average temperature. This is because water vapor traps heat. However, the team noted that this effect would disappear over time when the extra water vapor "cycles out" of the stratosphere. This means the presence of the water vapor would not be enough to greatly affect climate change.
美國(guó)宇航局表示，大量的水蒸氣可能足以暫時(shí)影響地球的平均溫度。這是因?yàn)樗魵鈺?huì)吸收熱量。然而，該團(tuán)隊(duì)指出，當(dāng)額外的水蒸氣“循環(huán)出”平流層時(shí)，這種影響會(huì)隨著時(shí)間的推移而消失。這意味著水蒸氣的存在不足以對(duì)氣候變化產(chǎn)生重大影響。