科学家说，冷战核试验改变了数千英里外的降雨量

Nuclear tests conducted during the Cold War changed rainfall thousands of miles away, according to new research.

最新研究显示，冷战期间进行的核试验改变了数千英里外的降雨量。

Scientists in the U.K. have studied how the electric charge released by radiation from the detonations in the 1950s and 1960s affected rainclouds..

英国科学家研究了20世纪50年代和60年代爆炸产生的辐射所释放的电荷是如何影响雨云的。

The study, which was published in Physical Review Letters, used records from 1962 to 1964 compiled by a research station in Scotland. Scientists studied days with high and low radioactively generated charge and found that clouds were visibly thicker. They also discovered that there was, on average, 24 percent more rain on the days with more radioactivity.

这项研究发表在《物理评论快报》(Physical Review Letters)上，使用了苏格兰一个研究站在1962年至1964年间汇编的记录。科学家研究了高放射性和低放射性产生电荷的天数，发现云层明显较厚。他们还发现，在放射性更强的日子里，平均降雨量增加了24%。

“By studying the radioactivity released from Cold War weapons tests, scientists at the time learnt about atmospheric circulation patterns,” said Prof. Giles Harrison of the U.K.’s University of Reading and the study’s lead author, in a statement. “We have now reused this data to examine the effect on rainfall.”

“通过研究冷战武器试验释放的放射性物质，当时的科学家了解了大气环流模式，”英国的贾尔斯·哈里森教授说该研究报告的第一作者在一份声明中说，这是一项非常重要的研究。“我们现在重新利用这些数据来研究对降雨的影响。”

The scientists noted that, although the tests were carried out in remote locations, such as the Nevada Desert and in the Pacific and Arctic islands, radioactive pollution spread widely throughout the planet’s atmosphere. “Radioactivity ionises the air, releasing electric charge,” they explained, in the statement.

科学家们指出，尽管试验是在内华达州沙漠、太平洋和北极岛屿等偏远地区进行的，但放射性污染在地球大气中广泛传播。“放射性使空气电离，释放电荷，”他们在声明中解释道。

Experts noted that electric charge modifies how water droplets in clouds collide and combine. This potentially affects the size of droplets and influences rainfall but is difficult to observe in the atmosphere.

专家指出，电荷改变了云中水滴碰撞和结合的方式。这可能会影响水滴的大小并影响降雨量，但在大气中很难观测到。

Experts from the universities of Reading, Bristol and Bath in the U.K. discovered the rainfall patterns by studying records from weather stations in London and at Lerwick in Shetland Isles north of Scotland.

英国布里斯托尔和巴斯大学的专家，通过研究伦敦州的气象站和苏格兰北部设得兰群岛的勒威克的记录，发现了降雨模式。

In a separate project, scientists recently conducted extensive mapping of the seafloor at Bikini Atoll, the remote Pacific Ocean testing site for atomic bombs between 1946 and 1954.

在另一个项目中，科学家最近对比基尼环礁的海底进行了广泛的测绘，比基尼环礁是1946至1954年间遥远的太平洋原子弹试验场。

The research was revealed last year at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

这项研究是去年在旧金山举行的美国地球物理联合会秋季会议上披露的。