美国国家公共电台 NPR New Satellite Provides Weather Forecasts For The Final Frontier

New Satellite Provides Weather Forecasts For The Final Frontier

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Tomorrow, a new satellite heads into orbit around Earth. It's intended to sit 22,000 miles above North America, monitoring the weather on the planet and in space. NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell reports on how researchers are keeping an eye on space weather.

RAE ELLEN BICHELL, BYLINE²: Every morning in a government office building in Boulder³, Colo., about a dozen people type a code into a door...

(SOUNDBITE OF KEYPAD BEEPING, UNLOCKING)

BICHELL: ...And line up against a wall on the other side. There are a couple of guys in military uniform and some scientists in Hawaiian shirts.

RODNEY VIERECK: All right, I think we're all here.

BICHELL: They work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁴ Administration. And they're here for a daily weather forecast, a space weather forecast.

JEFF STANKIEWICZ: Good morning, everyone. My name is Jeff Stankiewicz. Welcome to your Friday, Oct. 21, space weather briefing.

BICHELL: Jeff Stankiewicz is one of 11 forecasters who work here around the clock. Now, it may come as a surprise that there's weather in space, but there is. And it's happening pretty much all the time. It's caused by particles, which fly through space and smash into Earth's atmosphere, particles that come from the sun. Stankiewicz shows me some videos of the sun, twitching⁵ with activity. A dark red puff⁶ rises off the surface and disappears into space. It all looks wispy⁷ on the screen, but solar burps like this one can be massive.

VIERECK: A billion tons of material traveling a million miles an hour.

BICHELL: Rodney Viereck is a physicist⁸ with the Space Weather Prediction Center. All these sun spewings are the reason why, since the 1970s, a series of satellites have been monitoring weather on Earth and in space. A new one, called GOES-R, is set to launch from Florida this weekend. This one's decked out with better imaging technology than ever because forecasters want to know if nasty space weather is headed our way.

VIERECK: It affects GPS. It affects communication. It affects astronauts and satellites.

BICHELL: When space weather reaches Earth, it can change the shape of the atmosphere and add a lot of space gunk to it. That can skew navigation systems, bend high-frequency radio signals and mess with the electronics onboard satellites. But the real threat for most of us is that space weather can fry the electrical grid⁹. In the last few decades, it's knocked the power out in Sweden, South Africa and Canada.

VIERECK: That's the fear - is the possibility - the remote possibility - but the possibility that there could be an extreme event that would actually put us into a position where we just don't have reliable power for months.

BICHELL: A hundred fifty years ago, a massive solar storm lit up the sky. There weren't electric grids¹⁰ to fry back then, but it did put so much electricity in the air that it started fires in telegraph offices.

VIERECK: So it was very, very much a huge event. We don't get many of those. That's one of the big questions - how big can it be?

BICHELL: For now, there are no giant space storms in sight. But if one of those big events was about to occur, GOES-R and other satellites like it should provide some warning. In the meantime, the satellites will also keep a close eye on Earth weather, mapping lightning strikes and taking rapid-fire images of severe storms.

Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

4 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

5 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

7 wispy   

adj.模糊的；纤细的

参考例句：

• Grey wispy hair straggled down to her shoulders.稀疏的灰白头发披散在她肩头。
• The half moon is hidden behind some wispy clouds.半轮月亮躲在淡淡的云彩之后。

8 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

9 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

10 grids   

n.格子( grid的名词复数 )；地图上的坐标方格；（输电线路、天然气管道等的）系统网络；（汽车比赛）赛车起跑线

参考例句：

• Typical framed structures are beams, grids, plane and space frames or trusses. 典型构架结构为梁、格栅、平面的和空间的框架或桁架。 来自辞典例句
• The machines deliver trimmed grids for use or stock. 这种机器铸出修整过的板栅，以供使用或储存。 来自辞典例句