VOA慢速英语2019 IBM公司为发展中国家提供更精准详细的天气预报（在线收听）

The International Business Machines Corporation, known as IBM, says it is making technology for precision weather predictions available to everyone.

国际商业机器公司（简称IBM）称该公司正在把精准天气预报的科技带给每个人。

The company said the new weather forecasts offer more details and bring a level of precision once available only in major industrial countries.

该公司表示，新的天气预报提供了更多细节，并带来了曾经仅在主要工业国家才有的精确度。

The forecasting tool is expected to help emergency officials better predict where severe storms will hit. It may also aid airline companies planning flight paths, as well as farmers caring for crops.

这一预报工具有望帮助紧急救援人员更好地预测暴风雨将要袭击的地方。它还能帮助航空公司规划航线，并帮助农民种好庄稼。

The new system creates weather forecasts more often and with finer details than what is available outside the United States, Europe and Japan.

与欧美以及日本之外现有的天气预报系统相比，新系统能够提供更高频次、更为详细的天气预报。

Most forecasts have a resolution of 10 to 15 square kilometers and provide new information every six to 12 hours. IBM's Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System goes down to 3 square kilometers and provides information every hour.

大多数预报的分辨率为10到15平方公里，每6-12小时提供一次新的信息。IBM公司的全球高分辨率大气预测系统精确到了3平方公里，并每小时预报一次。

"That's providing a level of detail that we've not been able to see in parts of the world such as Southeast Asia, Africa as well as South America," notes Kevin Petty. He serves as director of science and forecasting at The Weather Company, which IBM owns.

凯文·佩蒂指出：“它在东南亚、非洲以及南美等地区提供了我们曾经无法看到的详细信息。”佩蒂是IBM公司旗下天气预报公司的科学和预报主管。

That kind of precision can provide details of where and when extremely heavy rain will fall. That could be useful in emergency situations, and could help farmers decide when to plant, harvest and fertilize crops.

这种精度可以提供何时以及何地会下大雨的详细信息。这在紧急情况下可能很有用，并且可以帮助农民决定何时种植、施肥以及收获。

Better forecasts around worldwide

全球范围内更好的天气预测

Fred Carr is emeritus meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma, and was not involved with the project.

弗雷德·卡尔是俄克拉荷马大学的名誉气象学家，他没有涉及这个项目。

Carr says the United States has a similar high-resolution forecasting system, "but it's just for the U.S. because it takes so much computer time. To do it for the whole globe is a pretty significant achievement."

卡尔表示，美国也有类似的高分辨率预报系统，“但它仅适用于美国，因为这需要花费大量的计算机时间。在全球范围内实现这点是一项相当可观的成就。”

Carr added that it is possible to quickly collect observations from radar, airplanes and surface measurements in the United States. But he said it is not clear how IBM gets information from the other 98% of the world.

卡尔还说，美国可以通过雷达、飞机以及地面测量迅速采集观测数据。但他表示，目前尚不清楚IBM公司如何从全球其它98%的地区获取信息。

Carr said he believes there will be problems in getting information, so "sometimes those forecasts aren't going to be very accurate."

卡尔表示，他认为获取信息将会存在问题，所以“有时候这些预测不会那么准确。”

Users will be able to decide for themselves. The system now operates on the Weather.com website and The Weather Channel's application program for smartphones.

用户将能够自行决定。该系统现在在Weather.com网站以及Weather Channel智能手机应用程序上运行。

In the future, IBM hopes to improve its forecasts by collecting information from atmospheric pressure sensors used in such phones.

IBM公司希望未来可以通过使用智能手机中的大气压传感器收集数据来提高预测水平。

These sensors improve the precision of global positioning system, or GPS, technology. For example, they can help fitness tracking instruments measure how many steps a user has climbed.

这些传感器提高了全球定位系统技术的精度。例如，它们可以帮助健身跟踪仪器测量用户爬升了多少个台阶。

IBM said it is not currently using this information but plans to offer users the chance to choose it.

IBM公司表示，该公司目前尚未采用这种信息，但是计划让用户有机会做出这种选择。

Some privacy activists and governments have criticized technology companies for collecting this kind of information. The city of Los Angeles, California has brought a case against IBM for improperly using location information from Weather Channel app users.

一些隐私活动人士和政府批评科技公司收集此类信息。加州洛杉矶市已经对IBM公司不当使用Weather Channel应用程序用户的位置信息发起了诉讼。