世界上罕见的自然现象

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.

日复一日相似的天气很容易让人厌倦，但剧烈的天气变化着实会让人大吃一惊。这里列出的是一些极为罕见的自然现象——其中一些美轮美奂，还有一些可怕致命。

Solar Tsunami

太阳海啸

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年年中时，两颗卫星监测到太阳表面出现了不寻常的现象。一场“海啸”正在其表面滚动，这是日冕物质抛射进入太空所产生的反应。

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.

日本卫星Hindoe与太阳动力学天文台在探索太阳上发生的事件上起了重要作用，并且他们还一同研究太阳紫外线，以确定太阳表面的准确情况。Hindoe还为专家们收集了足够多的证据，帮助专家最终弄明白为何太阳日冕层比太阳表面要灼热数千度。在整个研究过程中，科学家逐渐意识到，日冕物质抛射后，随之而至的是冲击波。这一现象与地球上地震后随之发生海啸相似。

Inversion Clouds

逆温云

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，就在感恩节之后，科罗拉多大峡谷的游客们注意到一件奇怪的事——一种浓雾正迅速地填满峡谷。当浓雾席卷整个公园，最后看起来就像是云瀑布时，人们陷入了恐慌。这种异常的天气现象就是逆温。

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.

逆温的形成是由于冷空气停留在了近地面，而温度更高的空气持续上升。在感恩节的前一天，一场暴风雨袭击了科罗拉多大峡谷，导致地面冰冻。随后，当温暖的气流开始向上移动，就带来了美丽的逆温现象。公园管理员表示，小范围的逆温现象相当常见，但大范围的发生于整个峡谷的逆温现象大约十年才发生一次。这次的现象持续了一整天，雾气直到夜色降临时才逐渐散去。

Colorful Solar Storm

五彩缤纷的太阳风暴

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.

我们都知道北极光，通常在天空中呈现蓝色和绿色的漩涡。但有时候，太阳风暴异常猛烈，会出现万花筒般五颜六色的北极光，而且还会出现在一些之前从未有过此现象的地方，让当地人一睹为快。2012年，一场猛烈的太阳风暴给美国俄勒冈州的火山口湖上空带来了极其美丽的北极光。科学家们认为，比我们的星球大得多的太阳黑子携两朵带有发光粒子的云猛冲向地球。北极光的强度有限，最远只能在马里兰州和威斯康星州看得见。

Thundersnow

冬雪惊雷

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，美国东海岸正经历着一场常见的暴风雪，就在这时，居民目睹了夹杂着大雪的闪电与惊雷。冬雪惊雷就发生在他们眼前。

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.

冬雪惊雷形成的内部机制与普通的雷暴相似，都是湿润空气上升而成。低空的湿气遭遇高空冷空气，两者结合导致了闪电与雷暴。气象专家解释，冬雪惊雷的发生可能意味着更大的降雪。研究者已经发现，在一场暴风雪中，半径70英里的闪电将带来至少6英尺厚的积雪，这种现象发生的概率在80%以上。