A satellite that will be the first to comprehensively monitor wind around the globe is finally ready to fly.
一颗将成为首个综合监测全球风象的卫星准备升空。
After nearly two decades in the planning, the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Aeolus mission is slated to launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on 21 August.
经过了二十年的筹划，欧洲宇航局（ESA）的埃尔罗斯任务预计将于8月21日在法属圭亚那的库鲁发射升空。
Meteorologists think that its data will significantly improve weather forecasts, because the lack of detailed wind measurements is one of the biggest gaps in the global Earth-observing system.
气象学家们认为它的数据将会让天气预报显著提升，因为缺乏对风的具体测量是全世界的地球观测系统的大缺口之一。
Aeolus, a €480-million (US$550-million) mission, will use ultraviolet lasers to track wind speed and direction in the lowermost 30 kilometres of the atmosphere.
埃尔罗斯任务，花费了四亿八千万欧元（五亿五千万美元），将利用紫外激光来追踪大气层最底层的30公里的风速和风向。
Researchers have used similar lasers on aeroplanes to study winds in particular regions, but this will be the first wind-mapping mission to cover the entire globe.
研究员们曾在飞机上用过类似的激光来研究一些特定区域的风象，不过这将会是第一次覆盖全球的风象监测任务。
If Aeolus works as planned, its data could improve forecasts in tropical regions substantially, and by a few per cent in Earth’s mid- and high latitudes.
假如埃尔罗斯按计划运行的话，它的数据将会大大提升热带地区的气象预报，而中高纬度地区也会有几个百分点的提升。
“You may think that does not sound like very much, but if we improve forecasts by 2%, the value for society is many billions of dollars,” says Lars Isaksen, a meteorologist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, UK.
“你可能会想这听起来没什么，不过假如我们将天气预报提升2%，带来的都会是上亿美元的社会价值，”拉斯.伊萨克森说道，他是一名在英国雷丁的欧洲中期天气预报中心（ECMWF）工作的气象学家。
Better forecasts allow people to better prepare for storms, for example.
打个比方，更好的天气预报可以让人们更好地为风暴做好准备。
Until now, meteorologists have pieced together information on winds from a patchwork of sources, including weather balloons and aeroplane flights.
到目前为止，气象学家们只能从零散的来源中拼凑得到的风象信息，来源包括气象气球和飞机的航行。
No satellite has directly measured winds, although scientists can infer wind speed and direction from satellite measurements of, for instance, how clouds move.
还没有卫星能够直接检测风象，不过科学家们可以从别的卫星检测，比如检测云的流向来推断出风速和风向。
“We designed this thing in 1999,” says Ad Stoffelen, an atmospheric physicist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt.
“我们从1999年就开始设计这个卫星，”阿德.斯托夫伦说道，他是德比尔特的荷兰皇家气象学研究所的一名气象物理学家。
“It’s extremely exciting to see it about to fly.”
“看到它终于要升空了我们真是激动万分。”
对于这颗全球首枚检测风象的卫星朋友们有什么看法呢？欢迎给amber留言哦！
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