and you've woken up to a cold house,

冬天快要結束了，

which is weird, because you left the heater on all night.

你在一間很冷的房子裡醒來，

You turn on the light.

這很奇怪，因為你整晚都有開暖氣。

It's not working.

你把燈打開。

Actually, the coffee maker, the TV -- none of them are working.

它卻沒反應。

Life outside also seems to have stopped.

其實，咖啡機、電視全都沒反應。

There are no schools,

外面的生活似乎也停止下來了。

most of the businesses are shut,

沒有學生上學，

and there are no working trains.

大部份的商店都沒開，

This is not the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse movie.

也沒有火車在跑。

This is what happened in March 1989 in the Canadian province of Quebec,

這並不是殭屍世界末日電影的開場。

when the power grid lost power.

這是 1989 年 3 月在 加拿大魁北克省發生的事，

The culprit?

電力網失去了電力。

A solar storm.

肇事者是誰？

Solar storms are giant clouds of particles

太陽風暴。

escaping from the Sun from time to time,

太陽風暴是種巨型雲，

and a constant reminder that we live in the neighborhood of an active star.

由偶爾逃離太陽的粒子形成，

And I, as a solar physicist,

它常常提醒我們， 我們住在活躍天體的附近。

I have a tremendous chance to study these solar storms.

我是太陽物理學家，

But you see, "solar storm chaser"

我有很棒的機會可以 研究這些太陽風暴。

is not just a cool title.

但，「太陽風暴追逐者」

My research helps to understand where they come from,

實在不是個酷頭銜。

how they behave

我的研究是在協助 了解它們從何而來、

and, in the long run,

它們的行為是什麼，

aims to mitigate their effects on human societies,

以及長期目標

which I'll get to in a second.

是要減輕它們對人類社會的影響，

At the beginning of the space exploration age 50 years ago only,

我等下就會談到這點。

the probes we sent in space

在太空探險時代剛開始時， 大約才五十年前，

revealed that the planets in our Solar System

我們送上太空的探測器

constantly bathe in a stream of particles that are coming from the Sun

發現在我們太陽系中的星球

and that we call the solar wind.

經常會沉浸在來自 太陽的粒子流當中，

And in the same way that global wind patterns here on Earth

這就是我們所稱的太陽風。

can be affected by hurricanes,

就像在地球上，全球的風模式會

the solar wind is sometimes affected by solar storms

受到颶風的影響一樣，

that I like to call "space hurricanes."

太陽風有時也會被太陽風暴影響，

When they arrive at planets,

我喜歡稱它為「太空颶風」。

they can perturb the space environment,

當它們到達星球時，

which in turn creates the northern or southern lights,

可能會擾亂太空環境，

for example, here on Earth,

接著就會創造出北極光和南極光，

but also Saturn

比如，在地球這裡，

and also Jupiter.

在土星也有，

Luckily, here on Earth,

還有木星。

we are protected by our planet's natural shield,

幸運的是，在地球上，

a magnetic bubble that we call the magnetosphere

我們受到我們星球的 天然屏罩所保護，

and that you can see here on the right side.

也就是被稱為磁氣圈的磁場泡泡，

Nonetheless, solar storms can still be responsible

可以在畫面的右手邊看到。

for disrupting satellite telecommunications and operations,

但，太陽風暴仍然會造成

for disrupting navigation systems, such as GPS,

衛星通信和運作的中斷、

as well as electric power transmission.

如 GPS 的導航系統中斷，

All of these are technologies on which us humans rely more and more.

以及影響電力輸送。

I mean, imagine if you woke up tomorrow without a working cell phone --

上述這些科技都是人類 越來越仰賴的科技。

no internet on it,

想像一下，如果你明天早上起床， 發現手機不能用了－

which means no social media.

沒有網路連線，

I mean, to me that would be worse than the zombie apocalypse.

也就是說，沒有社交媒體。

(Laughter)

對我來說，那比殭屍世界末日還慘。

By constantly monitoring the Sun, though,

（笑聲）

we now know where the solar storms come from.

不過，透過持續監控太陽，

They come from regions of the Sun

我們現在知道太陽風暴從何而來。

where a tremendous amount of energy is being stored.

它們來自太陽上

You have an example here,

儲存大量能量的區域。

as a complex structure hanging above the solar surface,

這裡有個例子，

just on the verge of erupting.

有個複雜的結構掛在太陽表面上，

Unfortunately, we cannot send probes

正在爆發邊緣。

in the scorching hot atmosphere of the Sun,

不幸的是，我們無法把探測器送到

where temperatures can rise up to around 10 million degrees Kelvin.

太陽的這種灼熱大氣當中，

So what I do is I use computer simulations

在這裡可以達到 絕對溫度 1000 萬度 K。

in order to analyze but also to predict the behavior of these storms

所以，我的做法是用電腦模擬，

when they're just born at the Sun.

來分析和預測這些風暴的行為，

This is only one part of the story, though.

當它們剛在太陽上誕生就開始進行。

When these solar storms are moving in space,

不過，這只是故事的一部份。

some of them will inevitably encounter space probes

當這些太陽風暴在太空中移動時，

that we humans have sent in order to explore other worlds.

當中有些難免會遇到太空探測器，

What I mean by other worlds is, for example, planets,

我們人類送出去探索 其他世界的探測器。

such as Venus or Mercury,

我所謂的其他世界， 指的是比如其他星球，

but also objects, such as comets.

像是金星或水星，

And while these space probes have been made

還有物體，像是慧星。

for different scientific endeavors,

雖然這些太空探測器

they can also act like tiny cosmic meteorological stations

是被設計來做不同的科學用途，

and monitor the evolution of these space storms.

它們也可以被當作 小型的宇宙氣象站，

So I, with a group of researchers, gather and analyze this data

用來監控這些太空風暴的演化。

coming from different locations of the Solar System.

所以我和一群研究者一同分析

And by doing so, my research shows that, actually,

這些來自太陽系不同地點的資料。

solar storms have a generic shape,

這麼做之後，我的研究顯示，其實，

and that this shape evolves as solar storms move away from the Sun.

太陽風暴有個一般的形狀，

And you know what?

當太陽風暴遠離太陽之後， 形狀就會逐漸形成。

This is key for building tools to predict space weather.

你們知道嗎？

I would like to leave you with this beautiful image.

這就是打造太空天氣 預測工具的關鍵。

This is us here on Earth,

我把這張美麗的影像留給各位。

this pale blue dot.

這就是我們的地球，

And while I study the Sun and its storms every day,

這個淡藍色的圓點。

I will always have a deep love for this beautiful planet --

雖然我每天都在研究太陽和太陽風暴，

a pale blue dot indeed,

但我一直都深愛著這個美麗的星球，

but a pale blue dot with an invisible magnetic shield

的確，這是個淡藍色的圓點，

that helps to protect us.

但這個淡藍色的圓點 有個隱形的磁場屏罩，

Thank you.

能協助保護我們。

(Applause)

謝謝。