VOA慢速英语: 如何经受太阳风暴（双语）

如何经受太阳风暴

Powerful winds from the sun affect the earth’s atmosphere. These solar winds cause the beautiful aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights. These winds are also responsible for many of the power outages that affect modern electrical systems.

强风是太阳对地球大气影响作用的结果。这些太阳风产生了漂亮的极光——人们熟知的北极光。不过这些风跟现代电力系统的断电也有关系。

The sun’s energy creates light and heat. It also produces charged electrical particles and magnetic fields. The sun can keep the earth nice and warm and helps our crops to grow. But a sudden burst of that solar energy can cause a power outage. William Murtagh is with the National Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

太阳产生光和热，也产生带电离子和磁场。太阳能让地球美丽温暖，有助于作物生长。但是突然爆发的太阳能量会引发断电。威廉姆·穆塔夫在位于科罗拉多州波尔德的美国太空气象预报中心工作。

“As recently as 2003, a big geomagnetic storm during that period we call the Halloween Storms produced a blackout in Malmo, Sweden, the city of Malmo,Sweden and damaged transformers in the Escombe Network in South Africa.”

“早在2003年，那时候发生一场大的地磁暴，我们称之为万圣节磁暴，在瑞典的马尔摩导致断电，对南非Escombe网络的变压器造成损坏。”

The National Space Weather Prediction Center is part of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Prediction Center provides continually up-to-date forecasts to power companies, government agencies, the satellite industry and airline companies. It even shares these reports with users of global positioning system equipment.

美国太空气象预报中心是美国海洋及大气管理局的一部分。气象预报中心连续不断地为电力公司、政府机构、卫星行业以及航空公司提供最新的天气预报，甚至为使用全球定位系统的用户分享这些天气报道。

The aurora borealis is seen over the town of Hyvinkaa in southern Finland October 31, 2003.

2003年10月1号在芬兰的海文卡镇看到了北极光。

The normal solar forecast is hot, sunny and worry-free. But sometimes satellites near the sun observe huge orange geysers. These explosions can produce magnetized winds, which continue into space. A solar storm generally takes at least half a day to reach the earth. So at first, says William Murtagh, the Prediction Center describes the solar activity as a “watch.”

正常的太阳活动预报是火热、阳光充足、无需担忧。但是有时候靠近太阳的卫星看到的是一个巨大的橙色的火球。这些爆炸会产生磁化风，会持续进入太空。太阳风暴通常要用至少半天的时间才能达到地球。因此，威廉姆·穆塔夫说，起初天气预报中心描述太阳的活动为“监测”。

“So a geomagnetic storm watch is somewhat like a hurricane watch when there’s hurricane sitting off shore of Miami and it’s a couple of days out.”

因此一场地磁风暴监测就像飓风监测，当飓风还靠近迈阿密海岸，两三天都过去了。

In the final hour of its trip to earth, the storm passes a special satellite orbiting our planet. The satellite provides new clues about the power and size of the storm. Then scientists hurry to send the latest information.

在最后到达地球的几个小时里，风暴经过一个绕着地球的特别的卫星。卫星提供一些关于关于这中能量和风暴大小的最新线索。科学家就能迅速发布最新信息。

“So we can give all the folks that we gave a heads-up to a day or two earlier, we can say okay, it’s worse than we expected, it’s as expected, or maybe it’s a bit of a dud and is not going to be the impact we thought it might have hereon Earth.”

“所以我们能让所有人知道我们提前一两天发布的警告信息，我们可以说还好，比我们预计的要糟糕，正如我们的期待，或许风暴没什么作用，并不是我们想的那种对地球产生的影响。”

Most storms are uneventful, or a bit of a dud, as he said. For larger storms, electric companies can direct power away from sensitive equipment and intense geomagnetic activity. But short-term outages are still possible. That is why hospitals, airports and other emergency centers are urged to keep back-up power generating equipment.

正如他说：“大多数太阳风暴是平静的，或者说没什么作用。”更大规模的风暴，敏感设备和强烈的地磁活动中，电力公司会直接断电。但是短期的断电还是可能发生。这就是为什么医院、机场以及其他的急救中心配备备用设备发电。

But predictions might not help us through a super solar storm. William Murtagh describes what has been called the 1859 Carrington Event. It created Aurora lights that were seen all over the world. The storm affected telegraphs-- the main electrical device of the time.

但是预报也许不能帮助我们度过超级太阳风暴。威廉姆·穆塔夫描述1859年的卡林顿事件产生了在世界各地都能看到的北极光。风暴影响到当时最主要的电子设备——电报。

“I mean, what does that translate to, in our critical infrastructure, especially the power grid? That’s what we’re trying to understand now.”

“我的意思是用我们重要的基础设施，特别是电网应该把那种现象翻译成什么？这也是我们现在试图要弄明白的。”

Researcher Scott McBride sends geomagnetic currents through high voltage transformers. During most storms, he says, technicians could study individual pieces of equipment to reduce the chance that they will be damaged. But if a Carrington-sized event hit today, it could affect a very large area.

研究员斯科特· 玛克布莱德通过高电压变压器来传输地磁感应电流。他说多数的风暴发生时，技术人员能够研究独立的单个设备，减少它们被损坏的几率。但是如果卡林顿时间发生在今天，会影响很大一片地区。

During a big storm, he predicts, current loads would fluctuate – or rise and fall. He thinks that these fluctuating loads would destroy many transformers and that it would take a long time to replace them.

他预测在大风暴期间电流负载会有波动——上升或下降。他认为这些波动的电流将会损坏许多变压器，那样的话就得需要很长时间来替换它们。

Scott McBride says engineers are developing a transformer that could replaced amaged equipment in days, not months. And modern grounding systems can protect equipment. But these steps will cost time and money.

斯科特·玛克布莱德说工程师正开发一种变压器，能够在几天内，而不是数月内替代被损坏的设备。现代的接地装置能够保护设备，但要达到这一步需要时间和金钱。

So what if the Space Weather Prediction Center found a strong likelihood of another Carrington Event? Mr. McBride says there is one more back-up plan.

那么倘若太空气象预报中心能够发现另外一个极像卡灵顿的事件。玛克布莱德说还有另一个备用计划。

“Turning the power grid off would certainly protect it from a geomagnetic disturbance, but the socioeconomic impacts of de-energizing the power grid are so huge, it would be very difficult for somebody to actually make that decision.”

“关掉电网确实能够保护电网免于地磁干扰，但是断电网的社会经济影响太大了，对某人来说做这样的决定确实很艰难。”

The experts say world leaders, power companies and major power users should start planning now so the world can weather a solar super storm.

专家说世界的领导人、电力公司和主要的电能使用者应该开始计划，这样世界才能经受得住太阳超级风暴。

I’m Anne Ball.

我是安·贝尔。