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科学美国人60秒 SSS Extreme Storms Are Extreme Eroders

时间:2017-04-25 03:08:45

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Extreme Storms Are Extreme Eroders 数天百年的效果

In 2013, a rare September storm swept across the plains of Colorado. When it hit the Rockies, it dropped more than a foot of rain in places like Boulder—as much as the city sees in an entire year. The rain unleashed2 deadly floods and landslides3 that swept away roads and buildings. In fact, a new study found that a century’s worth of erosion and sedimentation5 took place in a matter of a few days.

2013年,9月一场罕见的风暴席卷了科罗拉多平原.当风暴到达洛基山脉,在波德尔城的降雨量超过一英尺——这相当于那里一年的降雨量。雨水导致致命的洪水和山体滑坡,冲走了建筑物、冲毁了道路。事实上,一项新的研究发现,在短短几天降雨就可以酿成一个世纪的雨水侵蚀和泥沙沉积效果。

“Once the flooding started, it happened quickly, and took a lot of people unawares.”

一旦洪水爆发,一切发生的非常的突然,很多人在无意识的情况下,就已经失去生命。

Sara Rathburn, a geoscientist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins who experienced the storm herself. On top of the damage to manmade structures, Rathburn knew that the floods moved huge amounts of sediment4, wood, and the organic carbon they contain. She saw a unique opportunity to put hard numbers on what went where: At the base of one of the watersheds6 that flooded, a reservoir captured everything that flowed downhill.

Sara Rathburn是科罗拉多州立大学的地球科学家,他自己亲身经历过暴风雨。暴风雨对人造建筑物的损害性最大,Rathburn 了解,洪水可以移动大量的泥沙、树木以及它所能容纳的有机碳。她看见的场景可以说是千载难逢,很难用数字来描述:泛滥的水域底部,水库拦截了流向下游的所有事物。

“I was thinking about being able to track the sediment from the source to what I’m calling this anthropogenic sink—the reservoir—and really quantify it. We don’t have a lot of control on absolutely capturing everything that these large storms produce…and so the fact that the reservoir was capturing everything really seemed like a unique opportunity.”

我在想可以从这个人工水槽——水库——来跟踪沉积物的来源,然后进行量化。我们不能完全控制暴风雨所造成的一切……所以,水库成为了捕捉一切的绝佳机会。

So Rathburn and her colleagues got a Rapid Response Research grant from the National Science Foundation to study what happened. The team compared detailed7 maps of the landscape and the lakebed before and after the storm, then they quantified the difference. They found that half a million cubic yards of sediment washed downstream during the storm, a volume that would normally take up to 115 years to erode1. About 60 percent of it accumulated in the reservoir, taking up 2 percent of its storage space.

所以,Rathburn和她的同事从美国国家科学基金会获得了快速反应研究基金来研究到底发生了什么。研究团队比较了暴风雨发生前后的景观以及详湖底,之后量化了这些区别。他们发现,在暴风雨期间有一百万立方码泥沙被冲到了河流下游,而一般情况下,这需要115年才能完成。而大约60%积累再水库中,占据了水库约2%的存储空间。

The rest of the material was deposited partway down the river, where it will continue to be released into the reservoir for years to come, Rathburn says, causing ongoing8 headaches for dam managers…who are also worried about large logs clogging9 the openings that they use to release water. The findings are in the journal Geology.

剩余的沉积物部分也集聚在河流下游,未来也将流入水库。Rathburn表示,这造成了大坝管理员持续的困扰……他们还担心有一些大的树木堵塞了水库放水的开口。该研究结果发表在《地质学》杂志上。

The storm was an extreme event. But Rathburn says such episodes are becoming more and more common.

过去暴风雨是一个极端的事件。但是Rathburn说现在暴风雨正变得越来越普遍。

“I really do think it’s climate-change driven. And that it’s something that’s just absolutely worthy10 and necessary of our study and our investigation11. It’s too risky12 to ignore, given what it means for people living in places where hazards occur, which is almost everywhere.”

“我真的认为这是气候变化造成的。它绝对是值得且有必要必要进行研究和调查。忽视暴风雪太危险了,因为这意味很多人生活在危险会发生的地方,而这几乎又是无处不在。”


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 erode NmUyX     
v.侵蚀,腐蚀,使...减少、减弱或消失
参考例句:
  • Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外,土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
  • Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。
2 unleashed unleashed     
v.把(感情、力量等)释放出来,发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
  • The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 landslides 5a0c95bd1e490515d70aff3ba74490cb     
山崩( landslide的名词复数 ); (山坡、悬崖等的)崩塌; 滑坡; (竞选中)一方选票占压倒性多数
参考例句:
  • Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
  • The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。
4 sediment IsByK     
n.沉淀,沉渣,沉积(物)
参考例句:
  • The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后,水变清了。
  • Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。
5 sedimentation msEyJ     
n.沉淀,沉积
参考例句:
  • Sedimentation, the damage of a breach are problems, too. 而且沉积和决口的问题,也是存在的。 来自英语晨读30分(高二)
  • Sedimentation and denudation play a role in exceptional cases. 沉积和剥蚀作用的影响只在特殊情况下起作用。
6 watersheds 12dac97dd0f3c330deb3ba24768943c9     
n.分水岭( watershed的名词复数 );分水线;转折点;流域
参考例句:
  • Hyetographs are important in estimating stormflow hydrographs from upstream watersheds. 降雨历线资料为上游集水区推估洪水流量历线的重要依据。 来自互联网
  • Sediments check dam in small watersheds in loess hilly gully area come from three proportion, i. 黄土丘陵沟壑区治沟骨干工程泥沙淤积来源于坡面侵蚀、沟道侵蚀和库区岸坡坍塌。 来自互联网
7 detailed xuNzms     
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。
8 ongoing 6RvzT     
adj.进行中的,前进的
参考例句:
  • The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
  • The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
9 clogging abee9378633336a938e105f48e04ae0c     
堵塞,闭合
参考例句:
  • This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
  • And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人?
10 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
11 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
12 risky IXVxe     
adj.有风险的,冒险的
参考例句:
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

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