蜂群携带的电荷居然比雷暴云还强(下)

Even before the bees were measured, we knew the sky was filled with electricity.

甚至在测量蜜蜂的电荷值之前，我们就知道天空充满了电。

These static electric fields are found everywhere in Earth’s atmosphere.

现已发现，这些静电场在地球大气层中随处可见。

And they can be swayed by rain, lightning, aerosols, pollution, volcanoes and possibly earthquakes.

它们可能会受到雨水、闪电、气溶胶、污染和火山的影响，可能发生的地震也会产生影响。

Atmospheric electricity is measured as something called the vertical potential gradient, or PG, which is the difference in voltage between the surface of Earth and any point in the air.

大气中的电可以用垂直电势梯度(PG)来测量, 垂直电势梯度是指地球表面与空中任何一点之间的电压差。

The team found the swarms of bees could change the PG by 100 to 1,000 volts per meter.

研究小组发现，蜂群可以使垂直电势梯度每米改变100到1000伏。

They also modeled how atmospheric electricity might be impacted by other insects, such as desert locusts, which can form swarms of up to 460 square miles.

他们还模拟了大气中的电如何受到像沙漠蝗虫这样的昆虫的影响，沙漠蝗虫可以形成规模达460平方英里的群落。

These swarms are dense enough to cram 40 million to 80 million of the insects into less than half a square mile.

这些蝗虫群密度足够大，可以将四千万到八千万的蝗虫塞进不到半平方英里的地方。

Based on past measurements of locusts’ electric charges, such swarms create more charge than those reported for electrical storms.

根据过去对蝗虫电荷值的测量，这样的蝗虫群产生的电荷比报道的雷暴产生的电荷要多。

Not all insects pack such an electrical punch.

并非所有的昆虫都携带这么多的电荷。

In the modeling, moths and butterflies don’t seem to have a big impact because of their low densities.

在模拟中，飞蛾和蝴蝶似乎没有太大的影响，因为它们的密度很低。

Right now insects’ electric charges aren't accounted for in climate models that look at complex interactions in the atmosphere.

目前，昆虫身上的电荷还未应用到解释气候模型(用于研究大气中复杂相互作用)中。

They probably should be: the combined electric charge of all these insects might impact the development of rain, snow, and droplet formation and maybe even how clouds are made.

可能的解释应该是: 所有这些昆虫携带的电荷结合起来可能会影响雨、雪天气的进展、水滴的形成，甚至是云层的形成。

We can only speculate, but, like, that might have an impact on cloud formation.

我们只能推测，这些电荷可能会对云的形成产生影响。

If there’s a direct link between insects and cloud formation, then we know that clouds are relevant to climate.

如果昆虫和云层的形成有直接联系，那么我们就能知道云与气候有关联。

Insect electricity could also be influencing how dust moves around the atmosphere.

昆虫的电荷也可能在影响着粉尘在大气中的移动方式。

This is something that atmospheric scientists are interested in because such dust cuts off incoming sunlight and can change temperature distributions locally.

这是大气科学家感兴趣的课题，因为粉尘能阻隔进入的阳光，并能改变当地的温度分布。

The link between dust and insects is very interesting because one of the questions in climate change is “How is it that large particles move from the Sahara?”

粉尘和昆虫之间的联系非常有趣，因为关于气候变化的一个问题是“大颗粒物质(粉尘)是如何从撒哈拉沙漠移动的?”

And we just thought about it in terms of the physics of transporting them from the Sahara.

我们只考虑了从撒哈拉沙漠如何运送粉尘，只是从物理角度考虑了这个问题。

What if they’re stuck to a locust because they’re charged?

如果粉尘粘在蝗虫身上是因为它们带电了呢?

That really changes things, and we could think about it very differently.

这真的会导致大改变，我们可以从不同的角度来思考。

After learning about how much of a spark these insects can generate together, it may be time to start taking into account all that extra buzzing up in the air.

在了解了这些蝗虫总共能产生多少电火花后，也许是时候开始考虑空中其他嗡嗡叫的小动物了。

For 60-Second Science, this is Shayla Love.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是谢拉·洛夫。