首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
For more than a decade, scientists have been trying to determine whether climate change is linked to intense storms, such as 200
For more than a decade, scientists have been trying to determine whether climate change is linked to intense storms, such as 200
admin
2012-06-02
59
问题
For more than a decade, scientists have been trying to determine whether climate change is linked to intense storms, such as 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Meteorologist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, and colleagues attacked the question by turning to the past. They looked through drill cores from coastal waters for signs that sediments had been disturbed by major storms. Eight sites along the U. S. East Coast and Puerto Rico provided a reliable record of the number of significant hurricanes going back about 1500 years. Other climate data and models added clues to water temperatures and hurricane intensity.
As the researchers report tomorrow in Nature, they found strong evidence that Atlantic hurricane activity peaked about 1000 years ago, producing up to 15 hurricanes a year on average — a level matched in recent times only over the past decade and a half. At the time, according to estimates constructed from other geologic data, Atlantic water temperatures were relatively warm, "though not as warm as today," Mann says. And Pacific temperatures were relatively cool, thanks to La Nina events. Warmer Atlantic waters whip up more storms, but warmer Pacific temperatures tend to create stronger jet streams that break up those storms. So the twin conditions a millennium ago produced kind of a "Perfect Storm" for hurricanes, he explains.
Of particular interest, the sediments reveal a close link between warmer water and the number of hurricanes during the past 150 years or so. Dropping temperatures produced seven or eight hurricanes a year, while a rising thermometer, such as in the earlier part of this decade, pushed the total to 15. "All other things being equal, " Mann says, "this suggests that we are indeed likely to see not only stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic but perhaps more of them" in the near future.
Meteorologist James Eisner of Florida State University in Tallahassee agrees with the findings, but adds a caveat. The historical data do show that a link between warmer ocean temperatures and higher hurricane frequencies has existed for at least 1500 years, he says. However, there’s a high degree of uncertainty in the data. That and the fact that the physics explaining the link haven’t yet been established, Eisner explains, "indicate this is not the ’ smoking gun’ we’ve been looking for that would allow us to confidently project what will happen as the oceans continue to warm. "
What does the expression "smoking gun" (Line 5, Para. 4) most probably mean?
选项
A、A problem-solving approach.
B、A temperature watchdog.
C、A definite evidence.
D、A theoretic breakthrough.
答案
C
解析
语义理解题。最后一段提到海洋温度升高与飓风频率之间的关联性存在不确定性,而且相关的物理学框架还没有构建。这就说明,最后一句的代词this指代的是这些研究结果。后面又提到要依此来预测,所以Elsner是让这些结果作为预测依据的,因此选项[C]正确。文中的研究结果显然不是什么理论上的重大突破,排除[D]“理论突破”。选项[A]“解决问题的途径”,[B]“温度监视器”均与原文意思不符。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/5gp4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Thekidswhogrewupon"StarTrek"can’tfind(1)_____wayaroundEarth.Americanscan(2)_____directtoEngland,butonly
Inthefollowingtext,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions41-45,choosethemostsuitableonefromthelist(A、B、C、
Galileo,perhapsmorethananyothersingleperson,wasresponsibleforthebirthofmodernscience.Hisrenownedconflictwith
WhatdoNationalSemiconductor,MaxwellHouseCoffee,DeloitteTouche,andHearstMagazineshaveincommon?Alltheseorganizati
Inthetwodecadesbetween1929and1949,sculptureintheUnitedStatessustainedwhatwasprobablythegreatestexpansionins
Becauseofchangesineconomyandtechnologicalevolutionchallenge,vocationaleducationhasto______.Whichofthefollowing
The20thcenturymayhavebeentheageofscientificadvancementbut,asthenewmillenniumbegins,(1)_____worldhealththepr
EuthanasiahasbeenatopicofcontroversyinEuropesinceatleast1936.@Onanaverageofsixtimesaday,adoctorinHolland
Inhis1979book,TheSinkingArk,biologistNormanMyersestimatedthat(1)_____ofmorethan100human-causedextinctionsoccu
随机试题
照海通于
药品不良反应的监测方法包括
【2012专业案例真题下午卷】某企业供电系统计算电路如下图所示:图中35kV电缆线路采用交联聚乙烯铜芯电缆,长度为3.5km,电缆截面为150mm2,35kV电缆有关参数见下表:假定车间变压器额定容量为SN=2000kV.A,空载损耗为P
我国自改革开放以来,()的概念逐渐被广泛接受与应用,并已在我国投资项目分析和评价中发挥积极作用。
循环经济评价指标体系(宏观)的指标中,单位国内生产总值能耗的计算公式为()。
硫酸二甲酯泄漏后,先将()洒在污染处进行中和,也可用漂白粉或5倍水浸湿污染处,再用()浸湿,最后用热水和冷水各冲洗一次。
以下关于宽限期的说法,正确的是()。
《中华人民共和国教师法》的正式施行是从()开始的。
恰好有两位数字相同的三位数共有多少个?
因果性联系所揭示的是先后相继、彼此制约的事物或现象之间的________关系,结果对于原因来说,具有合理性和必然性。因果联系的两个条件:一是必须是先行后续的关系,二是必须是引起与被引起的关系,这两个条件________。填入画横线部分最恰当的一项是:
最新回复
(
0
)