美国宇航局重大发现！未来或可预测突发干旱！

The researchers compared years of fluorescence data to an inventory of flash droughts that struck the U.S. between May and July from 2015 to 2020. They found a domino effect: In the weeks and months leading up to a flash drought, vegetation initially thrived as conditions turned warm and dry. The flourishing plants emitted an unusually strong fluorescence signal for the time of year.
研究人员将多年的荧光数据与2015年至2020年5月至7月期间袭击美国的突发干旱清单进行了比较.他们发现了多米诺骨牌效应：在突发干旱之前的几周和几个月里，随着条件的转变，植被最初蓬勃发展,温暖干燥。这些茂盛的植物在一年中的这个时候会发出异常强烈的荧光信号。

But by gradually drawing down the water supply in the soil, the plants created a risk. When extreme temperatures hit, the already low moisture levels plummeted, and flash drought developed within days.The team correlated the fluorescence measurements with moisture data from NASA’s SMAP satellite. Short for Soil Moisture Active Passive, SMAP tracks changes in soil water by measuring the intensity of natural microwave emissions from Earth’s surface.
但随着逐渐减少土壤中的水供应，这些植物造成了风险。当极端气温袭来时，本来就很低的湿度急剧下降，几天之内就会出现干旱.研究小组将荧光测量值与美国宇航局 SMAP 卫星的湿度数据相关联。SMAP 是土壤湿度主动被动的缩写，通过测量地球表面自然微波发射的强度来跟踪土壤水分的变化。

The scientists found that the unusual fluorescence pattern correlated extremely well with soil moisture losses in the six to 12 weeks before a flash drought. A consistent pattern emerged across diverse landscapes, from the temperate forests of the Eastern U.S. to the Great Plains and Western shrublands.
科学家发现，这种不寻常的荧光模式与突发干旱前 6 至 12 周的土壤水分损失密切相关。从美国东部的温带森林到大平原和西部灌木丛，不同的景观都出现了一致的模式。