VOA慢速英语--现代科学能阻止飓风吗？

Can Modern Science Stop Hurricanes?

An American website reported last month that President Donald Trump¹ asked U.S. government officials to explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes. It claimed that Trump had suggested the targeted use of nuclear bombs to protect the United States against the storms.

The president was quick to deny the Axios website report. He published the denial on Twitter.

“The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this,” he tweeted. He added that the report was “just more fake news.”

While Trump denied suggesting such a plan, he would not have been the first person to propose this idea. In fact, the use of man-made technology have long been explored to destroy or weaken large storms.

The first suggestion of using a nuclear weapon to fight a hurricane reportedly was made during the 1950s. It is said to have come from a U.S. government scientist during the presidency² of Dwight Eisenhower.

Government scientists dismiss idea

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric³ Administration, or NOAA, predicts hurricanes and other severe weather events. It also works to keep the public informed about such storms.

The scientific agency says it often receives suggestions that nuclear weapons should be used against hurricanes. NOAA addresses the “nuking” of storms on its website. “Needless to say, this is not a good idea,” it says.

NOAA says the first problem with this idea is there is no good evidence that a nuclear bomb would weaken or stop a hurricane. In addition, the agency noted⁴ that such a plan ignores the release of radioactive material in a nuclear blast. This material would “fairly quickly move with the trade winds to affect land areas and cause devastating⁵ environmental problems,” it said.

In a much deeper scientific exploration of the issue, NOAA said it would be very difficult for explosives to stop the huge amount of energy produced by a large hurricane. It said a fully⁶ developed hurricane creates so much energy that it would be equal “to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes.”

NOAA made an estimate of the amount of energy required to weaken the strength of a Category 5 hurricane to that of a Category 2 storm. It predicted that would require more than 500 million tons of air to hit a storm with a 20-kilometer-wide eye. It would be very difficult to find “a practical way of moving that much air,” the agency noted.

Seeding storm clouds

Another method that was studied for years involved “seeding” the eye of hurricanes. NOAA reports that seeding experiments were carried out from 1962 to 1983 as part of a U.S. government project called STORMFURY.

Scientists used a substance called silver iodide, which can form ice crystals. The goal was to drop silver iodide into hurricane rain clouds. Scientists theorized that the process would weaken wind strength and reduce the storm’s intensity⁷.

But in the end, NOAA decided⁸ that cloud seeding had little chance of success. This was mainly because scientists found that “hurricanes contained too much natural ice and too little supercooled water.”

The seeding experiments also failed to differentiate⁹ “between the expected results of human intervention¹⁰ and the natural behavior of hurricanes,” NOAA said.

Cooling sea water

Another idea involves cooling waters on the ocean’s surface. A U.S.-based company called Intellectual Ventures says it has developed a water cooling method to weaken hurricanes. It calls the system Salter Sink.

A company video explains the system would use a large pump, powered by ocean waves, to push hot water from the surface down into cooler water below. The hot water would travel through a plastic container known as a Salter Sink. The idea was that the water being forced down would mix with cooler water and then return to the surface to help weaken a hurricane.

A 2012 statement on the Intellectual Ventures website says the system had produced “some interesting early results” and some interest. However, the company said the technology will “require much more extensive testing and research that’s better suited for a university or government research group.”

Several studies have predicted that warming waters in the Atlantic Ocean are expected to increase the number of major hurricanes in the coming years. Currently, the United States and neighboring countries are now entering the most active part of the hurricane season.

It remains¹¹ to be seen whether the number and size of future storms will fuel additional research into new solutions aimed at stopping them.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

ridiculous – adj. extremely foolish or unreasonable¹²

fake – adj. false

trade wind – n. a wind blowing almost always from the same direction

devastating – n. causing a lot of damage or destruction

practical – adj. relating to real situations or actions and not just thoughts or ideas

crystal – n. a piece of a substance that has become solid

extensive – adj. large in amount or size

suit – n. to be acceptable or right for someone

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 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。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

10 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。