大自然的魔法_天空中的奇觀.doc

大自然的魔法 天空中的奇觀關(guān)于云之飄逸變幻，唐朝詩(shī)人皎然有詩(shī)曰：舒卷意何窮，縈流復(fù)帶空。有形不累物，無(wú)跡去隨風(fēng)。莫怪長(zhǎng)相逐，飄然與我同。漂浮在空中的標(biāo)本 從左至右分別是，東南亞的層積云；冰島低垂的層云；澳洲昆士蘭北部天空中被稱之為晨曦的卷云；內(nèi)華達(dá)與加州邊界上空的高積莢狀云。By CORNELIA DEAN浮云是大氣制造的“魔法”，它們轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝而且不斷變化。當(dāng)然，它們無(wú)法被收集并存儲(chǔ)。不過(guò)，我們根本無(wú)需什么特定裝置去收集浮云：你只要注視它，然后記錄下來(lái)就可以了。Hence “The Cloud Collectors Handbook,” published by Chronicle Books, a serious yet charming field guide to clouds. The book teaches readers how to identify clouds they have seen and gives them a place to record the sightings, just the way birders create life lists of the birds they have spotted. It even has a scoring system, in which cloudspotters receive 10 points for ordinary clouds like nimbostratus, the more or less featureless rain clouds people typically have in mind when they say clouds are depressing; 40 points for a cumulonimbus storm cloud, the anvil-shaped “king of clouds”; and more points for more exotic formations.Mr. Pretor-Pinney resists the idea that cloudspotting is merely funny, or even merely fun. Instead, he said, its a way of training yourself to be aware of the natural world, “of being receptive when something is happening in the sky and noticing it.”Clouds are an important and necessary part of our environment, he notes, and anyway an endless succession of cloudless days would be boring. So Mr. Pretor-Pinney has little patience for people who dream of sunnier climes when clouds fill the sky.云彩是自然環(huán)境重要且必要的組成部分，沒(méi)完沒(méi)了的晴朗少云天氣總會(huì)讓人感到厭倦。 在日常環(huán)境中發(fā)現(xiàn)美好，對(duì)周遭的一切產(chǎn)生興奮之情或變得興趣盎然，并在其中找到自我，這才是幸福感的真正源頭。Up in the Clouds相關(guān)圖集：云卷云舒Stratocumulus. Due to its sun-blocking tendencies, stratocumulus may not be the most popular cloud, but it is one of the most varied.” The most widespread of all cloud types, it typically forms in a low layer with a clumpy base.層積云。“因?yàn)榻?jīng)常遮蔽陽(yáng)光的緣故，所以層積云可能并不是最受歡迎的云彩，但它卻是最富于變化的云彩之一。”作為分布最廣的云彩之一，層積云通常形成于大氣低層，云層底部呈塊狀。Credit: Ruzuiana Mohd Mokhtar圖片來(lái)源：Ruzuiana Mohd MokhtarStratus. These low-lying clouds “can give you a strangely claustrophobic feeling.” When a stratus cloud forms at a very low level, it is called fog or mist.層云。這種低垂的云彩“會(huì)讓你產(chǎn)生一種奇特的幽閉感。”當(dāng)層云在很低的水平面形成時(shí)，它通常被稱作霧氣。Credit: Michele Gruber圖片來(lái)源：Michele GruberVirga. When a cloud starts producing rain or snow, but none of it reaches the ground, the result is a virga. Because trails hang down from a clumpy cloud, virgas are known as jellyfish tails.幡狀云。云彩制造的雨雪沒(méi)有落到地面上就會(huì)產(chǎn)生幡狀云，它相當(dāng)于大塊烏云下垂的痕跡，因此幡狀云也被稱之為水母尾云。Cumulonimbus. “The king of clouds” is an enormous storm cloud. If you look at it from below, all you see is its dark, ragged underside. Seen from a distance, the cloud has a distinctive anvil shape. “No cloud collection is complete” without one.積雨云。這種“云彩之王”實(shí)際上是一團(tuán)巨大的暴雨云，如果從下方觀察，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它顯得漆黑，而且陰暗部分參差不齊；但若是從遠(yuǎn)處觀察，積雨云會(huì)呈現(xiàn)出明顯的鐵砧形。缺少積雨云的云彩分類就談不上完整。Credit: Mick Ohrberg圖片來(lái)源：Mick OhrbergAltocumulus lenticularis. Altocumulus clouds are typically layers or patches of cloudlets, and in the lenticularis variety they are candidates for “weirdest looking clouds in the sky.” Though they often look like flying saucers, their name comes from the Latin word for lentil, possibly because whoever named them “could not think of thefor shaped like a UFO.”高積莢狀云。高積云一般是成層或成塊的朵云，高積云中的莢狀云堪稱是“天空中外觀最為奇特的云彩。”雖然看起來(lái)很像是飛碟，但它們的學(xué)名卻是來(lái)自于扁豆的拉丁文，這可能是因?yàn)榻o它們命名的人“沒(méi)辦法找到飛碟形狀這樣的拉丁單詞。”Credit: Ryan Verwest圖片來(lái)源：Ryan VerwestMamma. Mammas are supplementary features of clouds, and they hang below them like udders. Some call them a sign of bad weather coming in. There are competing theories as to how they form.乳房云。乳房云是普通云彩的補(bǔ)充特征，因?yàn)樗鼈兙拖袢榉恳粯討覓煸谠茖酉路?。有人認(rèn)為它們是惡劣天氣即將來(lái)臨的標(biāo)志，事實(shí)上關(guān)于乳房云的形成原因，現(xiàn)在依然存在幾種相互對(duì)立的理論。Credit: John Rowlands圖片來(lái)源：John RowlandsCirrostratus fibratus. When the wind draws ice-crystal clouds into long, fine filaments, they are called fibratus. In this case, shifting winds have formed a cirrostratus fibratus cloud into a herringbone pattern.卷層毛狀云。當(dāng)風(fēng)將含有冰晶的云朵吹成長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的細(xì)絲狀時(shí)，毛狀云便形成了。圖中，不斷變換的風(fēng)向使得一團(tuán)卷層毛狀云變幻成人字形圖案。Credit: Anne Burgess圖片來(lái)源：Anne BurgessCap. Caps, an example of lenticularis clouds, typically form at mountaintops. Sometimes a cap is small and sometimes, like this, “it splays out in a full mother-in-law-at-the-wedding extravaganza.” But dont confuse them with a simple stratus cloud clinging to a mountaintop. “Only a jaunty cloud hat” will do.帽云。帽云是毛狀云的一種個(gè)例，它通常成形于山頂，其大小多變，例如上圖中延展幅度極大的帽云“就如同是婚禮表演上滑稽岳母的裝飾一般?！钡灰獙⑺c依附在山頂?shù)暮?jiǎn)單層云弄混淆了，因?yàn)樗瓷掀鹁拖袷且豁斪屓擞X(jué)得欣喜的云帽。Credit: Ryan Verwest圖片來(lái)源：Ryan VerwestRoll cloud. A roll cloud is “a long, low tube of a cloud,” sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy. This one, called Morning Glory, forms regularly in northern Queensland, Australia.卷云。卷云是“一種低矮的長(zhǎng)管形云彩，”它時(shí)而平滑，時(shí)而臃腫。上圖中的卷云被稱之為晨曦，它會(huì)定期形成于澳洲昆士蘭的北部地區(qū)。Credit: Gavin Pretor-Pinney圖片來(lái)源：Gavin Pretor-PinneyAltocumulus lacunosus. “An elusive prize for any cloud collector,” lacunosus clouds form when sinking pockets of air create holes in a cloud layer.高積網(wǎng)狀云。“對(duì)于所有的觀云愛(ài)好者來(lái)說(shuō)，能欣賞到這種難以捉摸的云彩無(wú)異于恩賜，”當(dāng)下沉的氣團(tuán)在云層中形成空洞時(shí)，網(wǎng)狀云便出現(xiàn)了。Credit: Kate Brookes圖片來(lái)源：Kate BrookesIridescence. When sunlight or moonlight passes through a layer of thin clouds, the result can be iridescence. Iridescence is proof that not every cloud has a silver lining “some have tutti-frutti-colored ones.”虹彩。陽(yáng)光或月光穿過(guò)薄薄的云層就會(huì)形成虹彩。虹彩的存在證明了不是所有的云朵都有銀色的襯邊“有些云彩的襯邊是五顏六色的。”Credit: Hong Gyo Cho圖片來(lái)源：Hong Gyo ChoPileus. It might look like “a Donald Trump comb-over” of a cloud, but cloud collectors consider the pileus formation one of the most beautiful. Unfortunately, “it never hangs around for long.”傘云。傘云看起來(lái)就像是“真人秀節(jié)目飛黃騰達(dá)中唐納德特朗普（Donald Trump）的經(jīng)典發(fā)型，”但觀云愛(ài)好者認(rèn)為傘云是造型最為驚艷的云彩之一。不幸的是，“它存在的時(shí)間不長(zhǎng)?！盋redit: Sandra Malone圖片來(lái)源：Sandra MaloneCrepuscular rays. These appear when sunlight strikes tiny particles too scanty to appear as clouds. Though the rays appear to be emanating from the cloud, that is an optical illusion.云隙光。當(dāng)陽(yáng)光照射到稀疏得如同云彩一般的微小顆粒上，云隙光便隨之出現(xiàn)。雖然乍看上去，光線似乎是由云層發(fā)出的，但實(shí)際上這只是一種光學(xué)假象。Credit: John MacPherson圖片來(lái)源：John MacPherson22 Halo. This kind of halo can form by sunlight passing through ice crystals in thin layers of high clouds. Use caution in observing or photographing halos; looking di