科学美国人60秒 SSS “僵尸火”发生越来越频繁--引发气候变暖(2)

Rod Dow is now retired¹ but he has hours of stories to share from his lengthy² career as a wildland firefighter and smoke jumper.

罗德·道现在已经退休了，但他有几个小时长的故事来分享他作为一名野外消防员和空降森林灭火员的漫长职业生涯。

He says he has vivid memories of that 1996 fire out on the Alaska-Canada border.

他说，他对1996年发生在阿拉斯加和加拿大边境的那场大火记忆犹新。

I find it really remarkable³ that I can call you and say, “Hey Rod, tell me about the Damien Fire,” and you remember all these details.

我觉得这真的引人注目，我可以打电话给你说，“嗨，罗德，告诉我关于达米恩大火的事”，你还记得所有这些细节。

Yeah, that one, you know—it was—it was the work.

对，那个，你知道，那是工作。

The work?

工作?

There was no—there was nothing enjoyable about any of it.

没有-工作中的任何一件事都不会是令人愉快的。

It was just constant 14 days of 14 hours a day.

连续14天，每天14个小时。

And I’ve never seen a fire that was that, that amount of labor⁴ per acre. It was just really amazing.

我从来没见过这么大的火灾，每英亩投入这么多劳动力。 真是令人震惊。

The Damien Fire was estimated at 6.66 acres.

达米恩大火估计蔓延了6.66英亩。

It was deemed the Damien Fire, so named for the 1978 thriller⁵ The Omen⁶, about a man who replaces his stillborn son with a living one, only to find he may have adopted a relentlessly⁷ murderous Antichrist.

这场火灾被称为“达米恩大火”，因1978年的惊悚片《凶兆》(the Omen)而得名，该电影讲述了一名男子用一个活着的儿子取代了他的死胎儿子，结果发现他可能收养了一个无情的反基督者。

The fire smoldered⁸ underground in the winter of 1995, burning into 1996 under stands of trees that toppled over on one another like pick-up sticks.

这场大火于1995年冬天在地下阴燃，一直燃烧到1996年，在一排排树木的掩映下，这些树木像线段相交一样相互倾倒。

Firefighters call this “dog hair,” and they have to cut through it all with chainsaws to attack the blaze.

消防员称这是“以毒攻毒”，他们必须用电锯将其全部锯断才能扑灭大火。

If you could picture four football fields continuously strewn with logs at chest-deep level.

如果你能想象四个足球场，连续铺满齐胸深的圆木。

You know, a gap, in between, the logs would be about big enough to stand in, maybe.

你知道，原木之间的空隙足够大，也许可以站进去。

So there was—it was nearly continuous logs crisscrossed on top of each other, and then underneath⁹ all of that was this foot-deep boiling ash.

这里几乎是连续的木头交错在一起，下面是一英尺深的燃烧的灰烬。

Much like Damien in The Omen, overwintering fires just don’t seem to give up.

就像《凶兆》中的达米恩一样，“越冬”大火似乎没有熄灭。

I mean, that is an enormous amount of chainsawing, and that doesn't even count the, you know, putting the heat out.

我的意思是，使用电锯的工作量庞大，这还没有算上，你知道，灭火的工作量。

For two weeks, Dow and a team of firefighters went after the smoldering¹⁰ forest floor.

在两周的时间里，道和一队消防员一直紧跟着燃烧的森林地面。

He says eight chainsaws were running at once, alongside a high-pressure fire hose connected to a pump.

他说，当时有八台电锯同时在运转，旁边还有一条连接水泵的高压消防水管。

That water is turning to steam at an enormous rate because there’s hundreds of gallons of water coming out the end of the hose, and it’s all turning to steam at once.

水以极快的速度变成蒸汽，因为有数百加仑的水从水管末端流出，所有的水一下子都变成蒸汽了。

And so it’s blasting these giant steam clouds.

所以这会使这些巨大的蒸汽云爆炸。

And because it’s exploding out of there, out of the ground, it’s carrying all this ash up into the air around you.

因为蒸汽云从那里爆炸，从地下炸出去，把所有的火山灰带到你周围的空气中。

Since 2005 scientists have noted¹¹ at least 40 overwintering wildfires in the Alaskan and Canadian Far North.

自2005年以来，科学家们已经注意到在阿拉斯加和加拿大远北地区至少发生了40起“越冬”野火。

The Arctic is warming at least three times faster than other parts of the world.

北极变暖的速度至少是世界其他地区的三倍。

That means the snowpack in places like Alaska is melting earlier in the year.

这意味着阿拉斯加等地的积雪在今年早些时候融化。

According to the Alaska Fire Science Consortium, more than two and half times as much acreage burned in the northernmost state between 2001 and 2020 in comparison to the 1990s.

根据阿拉斯加火灾科学联合会的数据，2001年至2020年，与上世纪90年代相比，这个最北部的州被烧毁的面积增加了2.5倍以上。

These zombie fires are still rare, accounting¹² for just under 1 percent of all land burned annually¹³ in Alaska and Canada.

这种“僵尸火”仍然很罕见，占阿拉斯加和加拿大每年烧毁土地的1%不到。

But there have been single years where the area burned by these underground infernos¹⁴ has been described as “exceptional”—totaling up to about 38 percent—in the region.

但也有个别年份，被这些地下地狱火烧毁的地区被描述为“异常”，在该地区总计高达38%。

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

6 omen   

n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示

参考例句：

• The superstitious regard it as a bad omen.迷信的人认为那是一种恶兆。
• Could this at last be a good omen for peace?这是否终于可以视作和平的吉兆了？

7 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

8 smoldered   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的过去式 )

参考例句：

• The conflict that smoldered between Aunt Addie and me flared openly. 艾迪小姨和我之间闷在心里的冲突突然公开化了。 来自辞典例句
• After the surrender, an ever-present feud over the horse smoldered between Scarlett and Suellen. 投降以后，思嘉和苏伦之间一直存在的关于那骑马的急论眼看就要爆发了。 来自飘（部分）

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 smoldering   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mat was smoldering where the burning log had fallen. 燃烧的木棒落下的地方垫子慢慢燃烧起来。 来自辞典例句
• The wood was smoldering in the fireplace. 木柴在壁炉中闷烧。 来自辞典例句

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

13 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

14 infernos   

n.地狱( inferno的名词复数 )；很热的地方

参考例句：

• I have heard heroes could travel between Infernos without moving. 我听说英雄们不需要移动就能穿梭于地狱之间。 来自互联网
• Arch Devils are the most powerful creature of the Infernos. 大恶魔是地狱里最强大的生物。 来自互联网