“僵尸火”发生越来越频繁--引发气候变暖(1)

This is 60 Second Science, I’m Emily Schwing.

这里是60秒科学系列，我是艾米丽·施林。

“A will-less and speechless human ... [believed] to have died and been supernaturally reanimated.”

“一个没有意志、不会说话的人…… (据信)已经死了，然后又超自然地复活了。”

“A person markedly strange in appearance or behavior.”

一个外表或行为明显怪异的人。

“A mixed drink made of several kinds of rum, liqueur, and fruit juice.”

由几种朗姆酒、利口酒和果汁混合而成的饮料。

According to Merriam Webster, these are all ways to describe a zombie.

根据韦氏词典，这些都是描述僵尸的方式。

But maybe the definition should also include mention of wildfires—the kind that smolder and creep along underground in the boreal forests of the Far North and sub-Arctic.

但是，也许这个定义还应该包含野火，即在远北和亚北极的北方森林中那种在地下阴燃和蔓延的野火。

We think they’re out and, you know, snow, and it’s cold all winter.

我们认为大火已经熄灭了，你知道，下雪，而且整个冬天都很冷。

And then in the spring, when they start smoking up again, it’s like they’re back from the dead.

到了春天，他们又开始冒烟了，就像死而复生一样。

This past spring, Randi Jandt and her colleagues published a paper in Nature about wildfires that overwinter in the boreal forest.

今年春天，兰迪·詹特和她的同事在《自然》杂志上发表了一篇关于北方森林“越冬”野火的论文。

Jandt is a former wildland firefighter.

詹特曾是一名荒野消防员。

She’s also a fire ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s Alaska Fire Science Consortium.

她也是阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学阿拉斯加火灾科学联盟的火灾生态学家。

If you would have asked me about that in the 1990s or in the 1980s, when I started working in Alaska and in the fire community, I would have said, “Gosh, that is just a really rare thing.”

如果你在20世纪90年代或80年代问我这个问题，那时候我开始在阿拉斯加和消防社区工作，我会说，“天哪，这真是一件非常罕见的事情。”

Jandt can recall one memorable zombie fire, which reignited after overwintering in May, 1996.

詹特还记得1996年5月发生过一场令人难忘的“僵尸火”，它在“越冬”后重新燃起。

It stands out not only because of how much work it took to put out but also because in 1996 this kind of fire—one that overwinters—was very rare.

这次大火之所以引人注目，不仅是因为扑灭大火需要大量的工作，还因为在1996年，这种“越冬”火非常罕见。

But according to that study in Nature, zombie fires are becoming a more frequent phenomenon.

但根据《自然》杂志的这项研究，“僵尸火”正成为一种更加频繁的现象。

These can be stubborn, deep-burning fires that require pumps and hoses—and, you know, a lot of effort to put out.

这些可能是难以熄灭的、燃烧得很深的大火，需要水泵和水管-而且，你知道，需要付出很大的努力才能扑灭。

One of our colleagues who had a full career smoke jumping in Alaska—46 years as a wildland firefighter—saw that article in Nature and related that it was an overwinter fire near Eagle, Alaska, called the Damien Fire.

我们的一位同事在阿拉斯加经历了完整的森林灭火生涯-当了46年的荒地消防员-他在《自然》杂志上看到了那篇文章，说那是阿拉斯加伊格尔附近的一场“越冬”大火，叫做“达米恩大火”。

That was the most work per acre of any fire he was ever on.

这是他所经历过的所有大火中每英亩工作最多的一次。

And that 46 years, I thought that was pretty remarkable.

这46年，我认为是非常引人注目的。

Well, I'm Rod Dow, and I smoke jumped for a long time.

我是罗德·道，我当空降森林灭火员很长一段时间了。

I fought fire for 45 or 46 or 47 years, depending on what you count.

我与大火搏斗了45年、46年或47年，看你怎么算了。

And all of that was on the fire line.

这一切都发生在防火线上。