Scientists are developing unmanned planes—called drones—what can collect weather information from the atmosphere.
Weather experts say their weather forecasts would be more accurate if they had information from many parts of the atmosphere. They already place satellites, drones and balloons at different altitudes (高度). And they use radar (雷达) and collect information from equipment on towers. But that information only helps experts predict weather conditions for the next few days. It does not help predict changes in the next few hours. This is very important where sudden, violent storms happen.
So scientists at Oklahoma State University are developing new drones to collect information from more parts of the Earth’s atmosphere. This will help forecasters improve predictions about local weather conditions.
Jamey Jacob is an aerospace engineer and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Oklahoma State University. He and other scientists at the university are developing small drones that do not cost a lot of money but can fly for hours, collecting information from many atmospheric levels.” Oklahoma is a really good example, because even though we’re already a very weather-dynamic (动态天气的) state, Oklahoma only has two balloon launches a day—one at dawn and one at dusk—from a single location in the state, and that’s where all the weather forecasting information comes from. So that data is really sparse, and it’s difficult for weather experts to get a very good idea about how that weather is changing from these very limited number of data points.”
Phillip Chilson, a professor of meteorology (气象的) at Oklahoma State University, says the drone program should give researchers a low-cost way of understanding storms better, and improve computer-based forecasting. The drone can measure atmospheric conditions, send live video to forecasters, and help search for people hurt in storms. “Our real goal is to try to develop systems. I don’t want to say they will replace weather balloons but there may be that possibility. Researchers still have a lot of work to do before the drones are ready. That includes making sure the drones know how to stay away from other planes.”
【小题1】According to the text, the drones being developed can________.| A．raise people’s interest in science |
| B．help to improve weather predictions |
| C．replace weather balloons and satellites |
| D．examine different altitudes of the Earth |
| A．limited | B．reliable | C．confused | D．correct |
| A．Worried. | B．Hopeful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．The drones can not be put into use now. |
| B．It will cost a lot of money to build drones. |
| C．Researchers find it difficult to design planes. |
| D．The drone program should be carried out on planes. |
| A．To introduce a team of scientists. |
| B．To explain how unmanned planes work. |
| C．To report a new way of predicting weather. |
| D．To give some advice on preparing for storms. |
