“僵尸火”发生越来越频繁--引发气候变暖(3)

Well, really, the reason that they are starting to overwinter somewhat more frequently goes along with these warmer summers and the opportunity for us to get deeper drying into those deep organic moss layers that underlie the forest and the tundra.

嗯，真的，大火开始更频繁地“越冬”的原因是这些更温暖的夏季，以及让我们有机会深入到森林和苔原下的深层有机苔藓层。

And that’s the key. So if the fire can get deeply embedded into those organic, peaty, kind of duff layers, they can just hide out.

这就是关键。所以如果大火能深入到这些有机的，含有泥炭的，没啥用的土层中，就能隐藏这些大火。

The boreal forest, also known as taiga, is the largest terrestrial biome on the planet.

北方森林，也被称为针叶林，是地球上最大的陆地生物群落。

And thanks to climate warming, this ecosystem is becoming increasingly vulnerable to wildfire.

由于气候变暖，这个生态系统越来越容易受到野火的袭击。

That’s significant, because estimates show at least one third of the world’s terrestrial carbon is stored in these forests—in the trees, in the soil, in the understory plants

这是很重要的，因为据估计，世界上陆地上的碳至少有三分之一储存在这些森林中——在树木中，在土壤中，在下层植物中

—and when it burns, this carbon is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas.

当大火燃烧时，这些碳会以二氧化碳的形式释放到大气中，这是一种会造成影响的温室气体。

Jandt says the increasing prevalence of zombie fires could challenge fire and land managers who are already struggling to find ways to bolster thin budgets.

詹特表示，“僵尸火”越来越普遍，这可能会对消防和土地管理人员构成挑战，他们已经在努力寻找方法来支持微薄的预算。

So the time of year they might begin to pop up in early spring is often really early, where fire crews are still being hired, trained, and there’s not many aircraft on contract yet.

所以大火在早春开始出现的时间通常很早，在那里，那里的消防员仍在受雇和培训，而且还没有多少飞机签订合同。

And, you know, firefighters are aware that a fire, if it’s been smoldering all winter, it may have burned very deep into the ground, and it could be hard to take it out and, you know, extinguish it.

而且，你知道，消防员察觉到一场火，如果这场火整个冬天都在阴烧，大火可能已经燃烧到非常深的地下，把大火取出来很难，你知道，扑灭大火很难。

In the last two fire seasons, other parts of the world dominated by boreal forest have also seen overwintering fires, and Jandt says that may be where some of her research goes next.

在过去的两个火季，世界上以北方森林为主的其他地区也发生过“越冬”火，詹特说，这可能是她下一步研究的方向。

So when we start looking at Siberia and Eurasia, that’s going to be really interesting because ...

所以当我们开始研究西伯利亚和欧亚大陆时，那将会非常有趣，因为……

overwintering fires seem to have been [a] really important contributor to that really awesome fire season—awesome in a bad way—that Siberia had in 2020, you know?

“越冬”火似乎是导致2020年西伯利亚发生火灾的一个非常重要的因素——一种非常糟糕的方式——你知道吗?

Did you hear about that? They burned 35 million acres.

你听说了吗? 他们烧毁了3500万英亩土地。

Yeah, I mean, can you wrap your head around that?

我是说，你能理解吗?

Oregon thought they had a bad season in 2020—it was less than a million acres burned.

俄勒冈州认为2020年是一个糟糕的季节——焚烧面积不到100万英亩。

So, I mean, 35 million is amazing.

我的意思是，3500万英亩才是惊人的。

Fires that overwintered started popping up again last spring, contributing to another intense fire season in Siberia this past year.

去年春天，“越冬”大火再次出现，导致西伯利亚在过去的一年里又出现了一个严重的火灾季节。

Jandt says there’s no doubt much of this change in the fire environment is due to a changing climate.

詹特说，毫无疑问，火灾环境的变化很大程度上是由于气候变化。

From a science perspective, she says it’s an exciting time to be a fire ecologist....

从科学的角度来看，她说现在是成为一名火灾生态学家的激动人心的时刻....

Just because it’s so astounding to be able to measure it over your career—one person’s career.

仅仅因为能够在你的职业生涯——一个人的职业生涯中衡量它是如此令人震惊。

She says the way these fires are burning has a transformative effect on everything from the topography to the plants that return once the fire is finally out.

她说，这些大火燃烧的方式对地形和植物这一切产生了变革性的影响，一旦大火最终熄灭，这些植物就会重新生长。

But what if that fire is never entirely extinguished?

但如果这大火从未完全熄灭呢?

Could zombie fires turn more vampiric—like Dracula, draining the life from forests to sustain the flames forever?

“僵尸火”会不会变得更像吸血鬼德古拉，从森林中吸干生命，让大火永远燃烧下去?

It’s unlikely if firefighters like Rod Dow keep their chainsaws sharpened, their certifications current, and there’s enough in the budget to go around.

如果像罗德·道这样的消防员保持电锯锋利，证书可用，而且有足够的预算，这是不太可能的。

For Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Emily Schwing.

科学美国人60秒科学节目，我是艾米丽·施林。