第2450期:Weather Experts: We Cannot Control Hurricanes

A series of powerful hurricanes have affected millions of people in the United States in recent weeks. 最近几周，一系列强大的飓风影响了美国数百万人。 Some people are wondering if scientists could control extreme weather events. However, experts say hurricanes are far too powerful for humans to control. 有些人想知道科学家是否可以控制极端天气事件。然而，专家表示，飓风的威力太强大，人类无法控制。 Climate change is leading to increasingly powerful storms. This has led to greater attention on the possibilities of geoengineering. 气候变化正在导致越来越强大的风暴。这引起了人们对地球工程可能性的更多关注。 Geoengineering involves futuristic ideas for reversing or lessening climate change. But many scientists have serious concerns about unwanted results.地球工程涉及扭转或减轻气候变化的未来主义想法。但许多科学家对意外结果深表担忧。 Hurricanes are an example of the uncontrollable, disordered power of Earth's weather. Experts say there is no clear evidence from research to show humans might be able to control such strong storms. 飓风是地球天气无法控制、无序的力量的一个例子。专家表示，研究中没有明确的证据表明人类可能能够控制如此强烈的风暴。 Kristen Corbosiero is a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany. Corbosiero is a weather expert, or meteorologist. She said: "If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes. If we could control the weather, we would not want the kind of death and destruction that's happened." 克里斯汀·科博西罗 (Kristen Corbosiero) 是奥尔巴尼大学大气与环境科学教授。Corbosiero 是一位天气专家或气象学家。她说：“如果气象学家能够阻止飓风，我们也会阻止飓风。如果我们能够控制天气，我们就不会想要发生这样的死亡和破坏。”National Hurricane Center tropical analysis chief Chris Landsea said that a fully developed hurricane releases heat energy that is the equal to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb every 20 minutes. That is more than all the energy used at a given time by human beings. 国家飓风中心热带分析负责人克里斯·兰德西表示，完全发展的飓风每20分钟释放的热能相当于10兆吨级核弹。这超过了人类在特定时间内使用的所有能量。 Chris Field is director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment in California. He said scientists are learning of the many ways that climate change is making hurricanes more powerful and destructive. Warmer oceans add energy and more water to the warming atmosphere. That water becomes strong rainfall. 克里斯·菲尔德（Chris Field）是加州斯坦福伍兹环境研究所所长。他说，科学家们正在了解气候变化使飓风变得更加强大和更具破坏性的多种方式。温暖的海洋为变暖的大气增添了能量和更多的水。那水变成强降雨。 Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbac said the amount of energy a hurricane generates is much more than humans have the power to control. But people have still made attempts to control the storms. 科罗拉多州立大学飓风研究员菲尔·克洛茨巴克表示，飓风产生的能量远远超出了人类控制的能力。但人们仍然在努力控制风暴。Jim Fleming is a professor at Colby College in Maine. He has studied historical efforts to control the weather. He said humans do not even come close to having the practical technology to successfully control the weather. 吉姆·弗莱明是缅因州科尔比学院的教授。他研究了历史上控制天气的努力。他说，人类甚至还没有接近拥有成功控制天气的实用技术。 Fleming described one attempt in 1947. The General Electric company partnered with the U.S. military to drop dry ice from Air Force planes into the path of a hurricane to try to weaken it. It did not work. 弗莱明描述了 1947 年的一次尝试。通用电气公司与美国军方合作，从空军飞机上将干冰投放到飓风路径上，试图削弱飓风。它不起作用。 Some attempts or ideas could even make the storms worse or cause greater harm. One especially dangerous idea was to use a nuclear bomb, which would cause radiation and not be strong enough to change the storm, Kristen Corbosiero said. 一些尝试或想法甚至可能使风暴变得更糟或造成更大的伤害。克里斯汀·科博西罗说，一个特别危险的想法是使用核弹，它会产生辐射，但强度不足以改变风暴。Bringing cooling icebergs or adding chemicals to cause rain also are ideas that do not work, scientists say. 科学家表示，让冰山冷却或添加化学物质来降雨也是行不通的。Modern geoengineers would operate differently. Today’s geoengineers are thinking about how to reverse the damage humans have already caused. 现代地球工程师的运作方式会有所不同。今天的地球工程师正在考虑如何扭转人类已经造成的损害。 Scientists in the field say one of the most promising ideas they see based on computer models is solar geoengineering. The method would involve lifting small particles into the upper atmosphere to return some of the sunlight back into space, cooling the planet a little. Still, supporters of the idea know that it comes with risks. 该领域的科学家表示，他们根据计算机模型看到的最有前途的想法之一是太阳能地球工程。该方法涉及将小颗粒提升到高层大气中，将部分阳光返回太空，从而稍微冷却地球。尽管如此，这个想法的支持者知道它伴随着风险。 Two years ago, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) announced it was forming an ethics agreement for climate intervention. The AGU is the largest society of scientists who study climate issues. 两年前，美国地球物理联盟（AGU）宣布正在制定一项气候干预道德协议。AGU 是研究气候问题的最大的科学家协会。