美国国家公共电台 NPR Steamboat Geyser Keeps Erupting And Keeps Baffling Scientists

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park can shoot water up more than 300 feet. It is the tallest active geyser in the entire world. And this year, it has erupted more times than ever before. This streak¹ of activity has thrilled both casual tourists as well as committed geyser gazers. Scientists have been watching as well to try to figure out what exactly is going on. Here's NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE²: Steamboat has become a geyser superstar, eclipsing even Old Faithful in terms of public attention. Erin White is Yellowstone's Park hydrologist.

ERIN WHITE: There are people that camp on the sidewalks, you know, spend all of their days, all of their time off sitting next to Steamboat.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: In videos, you can hear people's excitement when all that waiting pays off.

(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE CHEERING)

GREENFIELDBOYCE: White remembers when she got to see Steamboat. Last winter, she was driving past and stopped when she spotted³ a column of steam.

WHITE: And had the very unique experience of being the only person standing⁴ next to Steamboat while it was vigorously releasing steam. It is incredibly powerful. It's like standing next to a jet engine.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Steamboat's had a record year - more than 45 eruptions⁶. That beats the record set last year - 32 eruptions. And in the three years before that, there were zero eruptions. This geyser is not dependable like Old Faithful. The frequency of its eruptions is highly variable. Its sometimes goes quiet for a long time.

WHITE: In the 1960s, there was another period where there were more than 20 eruptions per year. And then prior to that, you know, there were dormant⁷ periods of more than 50 years.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: So what changed in 2018 to make this geyser start erupting every seven to 10 days? Scientists wish they knew. White says they've long understood the basic ingredients needed to make a geyser.

WHITE: You need to have a source of water. You need a source of heat. And you need structure - a geologic⁸ structure that is constrained⁹ or confined in some way to develop pressure that will generate an eruption⁵.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: That combination is rare. The planet has fewer than a thousand geysers. About half are in Yellowstone, where an ancient volcano's magma heats water in underground cavities. You might think scientists would have detailed¹⁰ maps of what's going on beneath Steamboat, but White says they don't.

WHITE: What is the subsurface architecture? What is the volume of water that is available for every eruption?

GREENFIELDBOYCE: They do have temperature sensors¹¹ deployed¹² around the geyser. And there's been recent research using arrays of seismic¹³ sensors. Michael Manga is a researcher at the University of California Berkeley.

MICHAEL MANGA: People always ask, well, why is Steamboat such a tall geyser? And we can't answer that question.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Not yet, anyway. Recent results show that Steamboat's liquid is stored at depths of about 65 to 130 feet. Manga says the deeper water is stored, the warmer it will be. The heat provides the energy that drives the eruption.

MANGA: At other geysers, that storage seems to be more shallow. And our hypothesis is - for the reason why Steamboat is such a huge guys are and so tall is that the water's stored deeper. The deeper the water's stored, the more energy it can have. And the more energy you have, the bigger the eruption can be.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Some of the first studies of geysers were done back in the 1800s. by Robert Bunsen - you know, the same guy who developed the Bunsen burner used in chemistry class. Scientists who put video cameras in geysers and built artificial geysers in the lab. Still, many fundamental questions remain unanswered, like what makes some geysers so predictable? Manga says take one of his favorite geysers in Chile.

MANGA: When we were studying it, it erupted thousands of times. And the time between eruptions varied¹⁴ by less than about a second.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: When I started asking Manga about the geyser scientific community, he seemed kind of amused.

MANGA: It's interesting you say - expression geyser scientific community because it's a community of almost nobody.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: In fact, a couple of years ago, when he and a colleague wrote a review of geyser research for a science journal...

MANGA: We could cite just about every paper ever written about geysers, and there's very few fields where you can do that.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He thinks the mystery is part of the allure¹⁵ of geysers like Steamboat. People like that there are fundamental things about the earth that we still don't understand. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

1 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

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 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

6 eruptions   

n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句

7 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

8 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

9 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

10 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

11 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

12 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

13 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

14 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

15 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。