研究表明 二戰空襲的衝擊波削弱了地球電離層

The bombs used by Allied forces during World War II were so large, they weakened the Earth's upper atmosphere.

第二次世界大戰期間，盟軍使用的炸彈之多，甚至削弱了地球的上層大氣。

The air raids turned towns to rubble and ash, but now new research shows shockwaves could be felt up to 1,000 km above the UK.

空襲把城鎮變成了廢墟和灰燼，但最新研究表明，當時盟軍的炸彈爆炸的衝擊波甚至可以在英國上空1000公里處感受到。

Chris Scott, from the University of Reading said: "I was absolutely astonished when I found out. Each raid released the energy of at least 300 lightning strikes."

雷丁大學的克里斯·斯科特表示：“當我發現這種情況時，我感到震驚。當時每次爆炸襲擊都會釋放出至少300次雷擊的能量。”

Researchers studied daily records kept at the Radio Research Centre in Slough, UK.

研究人員研究了位於英國斯勞的無線電研究中心的每日記錄。

They looked at how the concentration of electrons changed in the upper atmosphere around the time of 152 Allied air raids in Europe -- including raids on Berlin and those in support of the Normandy landings.

他們分析了在二戰中盟軍空軍對歐洲大陸發動的152次大規模空襲時的大氣電離層裏的電子聚集濃度，這些空襲包括掩護盟軍諾曼底登陸期間對柏林等德國地區的大轟炸。

The data showed the concentration of electrons fell significantly when a bomb was detonated, which in turn heated the upper atmosphere.

對有關數據分析的結果顯示，當時一顆大型炸彈爆炸時，大氣中電離層電子的濃度顯著下降，從而使上層大氣變熱。

It is a layer of the Earth's atmosphere which can affect radio communications, GPS systems, radio telescopes and even some understanding of weather systems.

電離層是地球大氣中的一層，它可以影響無線電通訊、GPS系統、射電望遠鏡，甚至還能影響天氣系統。

Chris Scott said: "This research is really important if we're going to understand the ionosphere as a whole. We know the ionosphere is controlled by solar activity but it varies much more than can currently be explained."

克里斯·斯科特表示：“如果我們要了解整個電離層，這項研究就非常重要。我們知道電離層是由太陽活動控制的，但目前其多樣化的變化卻遠超出我們目前能解釋的部分現象。”