字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：Great Red Spot Helps Explain Jupiter's Warm Upper Atmosphere / 揭秘木星頂端大氣層高溫之謎--可能因為大紅斑

洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2016/20160729sa_earth.mp3

只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
For most people, Jupiter’s most recognizable—and mysterious—feature is the Great Red Spot. For centuries, astronomers have watched the storm spin across the giant world’s face.
對大多數人而言，木星最容易辨認和最神秘的特徵在於：大紅斑。幾個世紀以來，天文學家早已觀察到木星表面的大紅斑。

But for planetary scientists, Jupiter’s most distinctive mystery may be what’s called the “energy crisis” of its upper atmosphere: how do temperatures average about as warm as Earth’s even though the enormous planet is more than fives times further away from the sun?
但是對於行星科學家而言，木星最獨特的神秘之處在於所謂的上層大氣中的“能源危機”：為何木星的平均溫度與地球一樣溫暖？即使這個巨大的行星與太陽的距離大約是日地距離的5倍。

All the sun’s giant planets display this energy crisis, and those in chilly orbits around other stars probably have it, too. So where does the energy to heat their upper atmospheres come from?
所有太陽系中的巨行星都呈現出能源危機，並且在寒冷的軌道和其他恒星周圍可能也會存在能源危機。那麼加熱其上層大氣的能量從何而來？

According to a new study, the energy must originate within the giants, get transported upward and become amplified by turbulent storms. The finding appears in the journal Nature. [James O'Donoghue et al, Heating of Jupiter’s upper atmosphere above the Great Red Spot]
根據一項新的研究，能量肯定源自巨行星，然後向上輸送，並且通過動盪的暴風雨過度擴大。該項研究結果發表在《自然》雜誌上。

This offers a new window into Jupiter’s depths, and should allow researchers to better understand gas-giant atmospheres throughout the universe. And it’s all connected to the Great Red Spot.
這為探索木星深處提供了一個新的視角。並且這項發現有助於研究人員揭曉整個宇宙中的巨型大氣層的奧秘，並且這與大紅斑之間是相互聯繫的。

Astronomers have long known that auroral displays can heat Jupiter’s poles, where charged particles trapped in the planet’s intense magnetic field slam into its upper atmosphere. Some theorists thought this auroral heating could flow toward the equator to warm the planet’s mid-latitudes. So, using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, astronomers observed Jupiter for nine hours, looking for these flows as thermal fluctuations in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
天文學家們早就知道極光可以加熱木星的兩極，由於被困於行星強烈磁場中的帶電粒子猛烈地撞擊上層大氣。一些理論家認為極光熱量可以向赤道流動從而使行星的中緯度地區變暖。因此，天文學家們利用美國宇航局的紅外望遠鏡設備，對木星觀測了九個小時，來尋找這些熱流，當木星上層大氣溫度波動時。

But they saw none.
但他們什麼也沒有觀察到。

Instead, in Jupiter’s mid-latitudes they spied a thermal spike 800 kilometers above the Great Red Spot, where temperatures soared hundreds of degrees higher than the surroundings. The best way to explain this spike is from the swirling maelstrom below, where turbulent atmospheric waves must generate heat by crashing together like breakers on a windy beach shore. Though this must be a planet-wide phenomenon, it is most obvious directly over Jupiter’s largest, most powerful storm.
相反，在木星的中緯度地區，他們在大紅斑上方800公里處發現溫度峰值。那裡的溫度飆升幾百度，高於周圍環境。科學家認為用於解釋這一峰值的最好的方式是大紅斑風暴之上的大氣湍流是由重力波和聲波製造，這種加熱現象可能是在重力波和聲波結合效應下產生的，這兩種波發生“碰撞”，其方式類似于海洋波浪拍打海岸。儘管這是一個全球性的現象，但它在木星最強大的風暴中最為顯著。

As alien as it seems, scientists have seen the same behavior on much smaller, gentler scales here on Earth, when thunderheads rising over mountain ranges create rippling waves that heat the air above.
這雖然看起來格格不入，但科學家們已經在地球上發現了相同的現象，但規模較小、較溫和。當雷雨雲上升越過山脈，可以產生微波從而加熱上方的空氣。