世界上罕見的自然現象

Its easy to get sick of having the same weather day after day， but drastic changes can really shake people up. These are some of the rarest natural phenomena out there—some are beautiful， and others are deadly.

日復一日相似的天氣很容易讓人厭倦，但劇烈的天氣變化著實會讓人大吃一驚。這里列出的是一些極為罕見的自然現象——其中一些美輪美奐，還有一些可怕致命。

Solar Tsunami

太陽海嘯

In the middle of the year 2013， two satellites caught something unusual happening on the surface of the sun. A tsunami was rolling on its surface as a reaction to a coronal mass ejection into space.

2013年年中時，兩顆衛星監測到太陽表面出現了不尋常的現象。一場“海嘯”正在其表面滾動，這是日冕物質拋射進入太空所產生的反應。

The Japanese satellite Hindoe and the Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO） are instrumental in researching events that happen on the sun， and they both study its ultraviolet light to establish the exact conditions on the surface. Hindoe was also thought to have gathered enough data for experts to finally figure out why the corona of the sun is thousands of degrees hotter than its surface. It was during all of this research that scientists became aware of shock waves following the coronal mass ejection. This incident was very similar to the movement of a tsunami on Earth after an earthquake has taken place.

日本衛星Hindoe與太陽動力學天文臺在探索太陽上發生的事件上起了重要作用，并且他們還一同研究太陽紫外線，以確定太陽表面的準確情況。Hindoe還為專家們收集了足夠多的證據，幫助專家最終弄明白為何太陽日冕層比太陽表面要灼熱數千度。在整個研究過程中，科學家逐漸意識到，日冕物質拋射后，隨之而至的是沖擊波。這一現象與地球上地震后隨之發生海嘯相似。

Inversion Clouds

逆溫云

Just after Thanksgiving in 2013， visitors at the Grand Canyon noticed something weird—the canyon was rapidly filling up with a thick fog. Tourists were left in awe when the fog rolled into the park and eventually formed what looked like a waterfall of clouds. This weather anomaly is known as an inversion.

2013年，就在感恩節之后，科羅拉多大峽谷的游客們注意到一件奇怪的事——一種濃霧正迅速地填滿峽谷。當濃霧席卷整個公園，最后看起來就像是云瀑布時，人們陷入了恐慌。這種異常的天氣現象就是逆溫。

An inversion is caused by cold air remaining near the ground and warmer air moving over it. The inversion at the Grand Canyon started when a storm moved through just before the holiday， causing the ground to freeze. When the warmer air then moved through afterward， the beautiful inversion phenomenon took place. Rangers at the park confirmed that much smaller inversions occur fairly often， but the larger ones that fill up the entire canyon only happen every ten years or so. This one lasted the whole day， with the fog only dissipating when it started getting dark.

逆溫的形成是由于冷空氣停留在了近地面，而溫度更高的空氣持續上升。在感恩節的前一天，一場暴風雨襲擊了科羅拉多大峽谷，導致地面冰凍。隨后，當溫暖的氣流開始向上移動，就帶來了美麗的逆溫現象。公園管理員表示，小范圍的逆溫現象相當常見，但大范圍的發生于整個峽谷的逆溫現象大約十年才發生一次。這次的現象持續了一整天，霧氣直到夜色降臨時才逐漸散去。

Colorful Solar Storm

五彩繽紛的太陽風暴

We all know the northern lights， which usually appear as blue and green swirls in the sky. However， sometimes solar storms are so intense that they cause a kaleidoscope of colors to appear and can also be seen in regions where people have never witnessed them before. In 2012， one of these intense solar storms created a particularly beautiful aurora over Crater Lake in Oregon. It was believed by scientists that two clouds of glowing particles were flung toward Earth by sunspots bigger than our planet. The intensity of the auroras caused them to be seen as far as Maryland and Wisconsin.

我們都知道北極光，通常在天空中呈現藍色和綠色的漩渦。但有時候，太陽風暴異常猛烈，會出現萬花筒般五顏六色的北極光，而且還會出現在一些之前從未有過此現象的地方，讓當地人一睹為快。2012年，一場猛烈的太陽風暴給美國俄勒岡州的火山口湖上空帶來了極其美麗的北極光。科學家們認為，比我們的星球大得多的太陽黑子攜兩朵帶有發光粒子的云猛沖向地球。北極光的強度有限，最遠只能在馬里蘭州和威斯康星州看得見。

Thundersnow

冬雪驚雷

Residents of the east coast of the United States were experiencing an ordinary snow storm in 2011 when they suddenly witnessed flashes of lightning and streaks of thunder intermingled with the snow. Thundersnow was happening right in front of their eyes.

2011年，美國東海岸正經歷著一場常見的暴風雪，就在這時，居民目睹了夾雜著大雪的閃電與驚雷。冬雪驚雷就發生在他們眼前。

Thundersnow mimics the inner workings of a normal thunderstorm by forming through the upward movement of humid air. Its the combination of lower humid air and higher cooler air that cause lightning and thunderstorms. Weather experts noted that the occurrence of thundersnow likely means more heavy snowfalls. Researchers have found that theres an over 80 percent chance that a minimum of 6-inch deep snow will fall within a radius of 70 miles of the lighting flash taking place during a snowstorm.

冬雪驚雷形成的內部機制與普通的雷暴相似，都是濕潤空氣上升而成。低空的濕氣遭遇高空冷空氣，兩者結合導致了閃電與雷暴。氣象專家解釋，冬雪驚雷的發生可能意味著更大的降雪。研究者已經發現，在一場暴風雪中，半徑70英里的閃電將帶來至少6英尺厚的積雪，這種現象發生的概率在80%以上。