MISTER
TWISTER
State climatologist loves teaching
people about the weather
只有在北达科他州,才会有一群勇敢的人冒着大雪和刺骨的寒冷,在周五晚上谈论天气.
所以在一天中大多数人匆忙回家或放学后常去的地方, 一群天气爱好者聚集在乐虎电子图书馆的会议室里. They shrug out of heavy parkas, nibble on cookies, 喝杯咖啡暖暖身子,坐下来听Adnan aky
Akyüz is a slight, wiry man who sports a dark suit, a red tie and a pure enthusiasm for all things meteorological. He paces before the crowd with the quick, 运动的步伐,你会期望一个人把他的时间花在攀岩墙上.
"I'm not sure why you would go to Hawaii for vacation,"he quips to the crowd, 对热带天堂单调的温和天气进行了温和的抨击. 对天气迷来说,北达科他州极端的大气条件更有趣. They produce fascinating phenomena like the circumzenithal arc, 一种冻结的彩虹,是由阳光通过云层中水平方向的冰晶折射而形成的. 或者气温波动如此剧烈,以至于该州的最高气温和最低气温之间存在181度的差异.
无论是aky
他用一个人遛狗的比喻来说明天气和气候的区别. 这只狗在人行道两侧徘徊,嗅着草, greet other dogs and strain at his leash to chase squirrels. Likewise, 天气代表了狗的短期旅行——我们的温度高低, 我们每天经历的单次风暴的降雨量. 另一方面,气候代表了遛狗者的整体旅程和路径.
同样的概念有助于澄清气象学和气候学之间的区别. 气象学家展望未来,每次关注几个星期的短期天气系统. But climatologists like Akyüz take a broader view. 他们研究有记录以来的气候趋势, observe long-term average weather patterns, 确定哪些人为或自然因素可能引发气候变化,并调查未来可能的气候趋势.
aky
aky
但aky
The chill of it all
When Akyüz and his family first arrived in North Dakota in 2007, 他说他为邻居们制造了一个非常有趣的场面. aky
在二月初这个气温低于零度的日子里,aky
Now as winter hardened as any native Northerner, aky
让人有点惊讶的是,这个自称喜欢冬天的人来自地中海. He grew up in Tarsus in southern Turkey, 一个夏天被太阳炙烤得沥青都变成粘稠物的地区. 直到aky
Smitten by the science and majesty of weather, aky
When the NDSU opportunity cropped up, aky
Climatologist, meet climbatologist
You might not think rock climbing and
climatology have a whole lot in common.
Think again.
aky
The activity exerts just about every part of his body, from the muscles in his legs to the tendons in his fingers. But it also strengthens his brain. aky
有趣的是,aky
但这项垂直运动也教会了aky
Since then, 他的专业技术已经发展到成功攀登怀俄明州东北部800英尺高的魔鬼塔的地步. 事实上,他的妻子坦尼娅(Tanya)和两个孩子——13岁的埃夫伦(Evren)和11岁的埃瑟纳(Esena)也成为了登山者.
Engage, entertain, educate
It's like a breaker switch.
当人们不理解科学或数学时,他们的大脑会立即关闭. "It isn't that they aren't as smart as others,"Akyüz says. “只是他们在信息的冲击下变得如此不堪重负,以至于放弃了. They just think, 'I can't do it,'"he says.
With that in mind, aky
在最近的一堂课上,aky
Down the hall from Akyüz's Walster Hall office, he keeps a whole storage room of props as teaching aids. 灵感来自中国餐馆里旋转的苏珊式桌子, he designed a flat, 金属渲染的地球——大约四英尺宽——像唱片一样旋转. 一个研究生在圆盘上复杂地画了一幅地球地图, 所以它看起来几乎像一个被压路机压扁的地球. During lectures, 他旋转圆盘,并在上面放一个金属球来证明科里奥利效应, 由于地球自转而使运动物体(如抛射物或气流)在北半球向右偏转,在南半球向左偏转的一种力.
When giving presentations to grade-school students, 他将拿出一个“龙卷风”机器——一个看起来几乎像电影院爆米花机的玻璃盒子——然后加入干冰和沸水. Voila: A miniature twister is born. 他在向孩子们宣讲一个他特别感兴趣的话题时使用了龙卷风机器:在准备龙卷风时戴上自行车头盔的重要性. 他非常相信这种安全措施,所以他在Facebook上创建了一个“龙卷风头盔安全”页面. “大脑是人体内最珍贵的器官,”他告诉学生们.
他还敦促上他大学课程的学生在感到迷茫时保持联系. 当面对这一连串的物理现象时,大脑——这个开关——很容易关闭, physical science and even geometry. After his class, 一个蓝头发、背着超大背包的女学生走近他,问他如何把摄氏温度转换成华氏温度. Akyüz goes to great lengths to explain it to her, sketching on a white board until she digests the formula.
aky
- TAMMY SWIFT
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