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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky . Got a minute ?

 

The most common natural disaster in the U.S. is flash flooding, which usually hits out of the not clear blue sky. Now researchers are trying to establish an early warning system for flash floods—by counting another flash, lightning.

Normal floods often come from melting snow, so there’s plenty of time to prepare. But heavy rains lead to quick flash floods, which are the leading weather-related cause of death in the U.S. Colin Price at Tel Aviv University is studying the link between lightning and the flash floods that result from downpours.

Price and researchers from five European universities are measuring radiation emitted by lightning. The lightning info enables scientists to pinpoint1 the most intense thunderstorms, and thus calculate both the path of a storm and the locations of the heaviest rain. Add data about ground topography and vegetation2 cover and you have what insiders call not forecasting but nowcasting: predictions about weather in the next minutes and hours. Price says that satellites will soon provide real-time detection of lightning worldwide, which should let researchers predict floods in a flash.

 

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky .
 


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1 pinpoint xNExL     
vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置
参考例句：
  • It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
  • I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。
2 vegetation cLxzz     
n.植物，草木，（植物）生长
参考例句：
  • As we drove towards the desert,the vegetation became sparse.我们驱车前往沙漠，沿途的草木渐渐变得稀疏。
  • The earth bore a thick green mantle of vegetation.大地覆盖着一层厚厚的绿色植物。

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