(开场白) 夏天去过旧金山，尤其是黄昏到过金门大桥的人，应该见识过旧金山的海雾。学过海洋气象的我，偶尔也会润色几篇关于青岛海雾的文章。但是，下面这篇文章让我第一次知道海雾对人类生存的重要性。

The Elusive Future of San Francisco’s Fog

难以捉摸的旧金山雾的未来

John Branch, a Times reporter based in the Bay Area, and photographer Nina Riggio spent months chasing fog in and around San Francisco. Scott Reinhard, a Times graphics editor, worked with researchers to visualize decades of fog data.

Sept. 14, 2022

 （原文发表在NYT） 

第1部分：https://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1355804

（在第1部分下面，有链接看第2部分…）

Much of Golden Gate Park is manicured grass, requiring hundreds of millions of gallons of irrigated water annually. While the city moves to recycled water and tries to improve the efficiency of its water use, a future with less fog and cloud cover could have huge implications. Fog season overlaps with the heat of summer, the time of year with the highest temperatures and highest evaporation rates.

金门公园的大部分地区都是修剪整齐的草地，每年需要数亿加仑的灌溉水。虽然该市转向再生水并试图提高用水效率，但雾和云层减少的未来可能会产生巨大的影响。雾季与炎热的夏季重叠，而夏季是一年中气温最高、蒸发率最高的。

Just as the gardeners see the silent signs of fog, some see signs of it dissipating. Mr. Kanzawa sees it in the once-empty, fog-soaked portions of the park now crowded with picnickers and sunbathers. On the crowded sand of Ocean Beach and Baker Beach. In real-estate prices. In the westside roads that were dangerous, if not impassable, on summer nights in his memory.

正如园丁们能看到雾留下的迹象一样，有些人看到了雾正在消失的迹象。 神泽（Kanzawa）先生在公园里有着许多野餐和嗮日光浴的人的地方，看到了雾的迹象；这里曾经空无一人、雾气弥漫。在海洋海滩（Ocean Beach）和贝克海滩（Baker Beach）拥挤的沙滩上；在房地产价格中；在他记忆中的夏夜，西边的道路上，即使不是无法通行，也很危险，神泽（ Kanzawa）先生看到了雾正在消失的迹象。

“It would get super thick,” Mr. Kanzawa said. “And now that’s a rarity. I haven’t seen it like that in a long time.”

Mr. Clark, the real-estate agent, is not so sure about the decline. He just knows that fog is a hot topic with everyone who is moving, either to San Francisco or within it.

“I mean, I ask everybody,” Mr. Clark said, ‘What’s your opinion of fog?’”

“以前，雾会变得超厚，”神泽（Kanzawa）先生说。 “现在这种情况很罕见。我已经很久没有看到超厚的海雾了。”

房地产经纪人克拉克（Clark）先生对这种下降不太确定。他只知道雾是每个搬到旧金山或在生活在旧金山的人的热门话题。

“我的意思是，我会问每个人，”克拉克（Clark）先生说，“你对雾有什么看法？”

The United States Coast Guard station at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge takes part in more than 300 search-and-rescue missions in a typical year, many of them in the fog.

Petty Officer Second Class Omar Mercado has an unusual, sometimes blinded view of those missions, driving a 47-foot motor lifeboat.

位于金门大桥脚下的美国海岸警卫队驻地，在典型的一年中会参与 300 多次搜救任务，其中许多发生在大雾中。

二等士官奥马尔·梅尔卡多（Omar Mercado）驾驶着一艘 47 英尺的机动救生艇。他对这些搜救任务有着不同寻常的、有时是盲目的看法。

“I hate the fog,” Petty Officer Mercado said. “At first I thought it was really interesting and pretty. But after going out in it five or 10 times, no, not anymore.”

“我讨厌雾，”梅尔卡多（Mercado）士官说。 “一开始我觉得雾真的很有趣，也很漂亮。但是在雾里进出5～10次之后，我不再觉得雾很有趣。”

The channel of the Golden Gate is narrow, precariously so for the large container ships, some more than a quarter-mile long, that move among the major ports in the Bay. The tide floods in or rushes out like a spigot turned on full. Waves just beyond the bridge can rise 10 feet or more. The bridge towers, rock outcroppings and the undulated coast create whirlpool-like eddies. The wind almost always whips through at 10 or 15 knots, often harder.

Then, you add fog.

金门的航道很窄，特别对于在海湾主要港口之间航行的大型集装箱船来说，这种雾天岌岌可危；有些集装箱船超过四分之一英里长。潮水涌入或涌出，就像一个完全打开的龙头。桥外的海浪可以上升到 10 英尺或更多。桥塔、岩石露头和起伏的海岸形成了漩涡状的漩涡。风几乎总是以 10 或 15 节的速度疾驰而过，通常更猛烈。

然后，你还得考虑海雾。

Petty Officer Mercado and his three crewmates recalled one particularly frightening summer night. Visibility barely extended over the bow. The sailors, on high alert, could hear the fog horns coming from above, presumably from the Golden Gate Bridge.

梅尔卡多（Mercado）士官和他的三名船员回忆起一个特别可怕的夏夜。能见度几乎没有超出船头。高度戒备的水手们可以听到从上方传来的雾角（注：警报号角），大概是从金门大桥那里传来的。

Suddenly, a moving gray wall appeared through the moving gray of fog: a container ship. Disaster was averted by mere feet.

“As a driver, you can get disoriented really fast,” Petty Officer Mercado said. “If you make it here at this station, you can make it at any other.”

突然，在移动的灰雾中，出现了一堵移动的灰墙：一艘集装箱船！只差几英尺就撞上了。

“作为一名司机，你很快就会迷失方向，”梅尔卡多（Mercado）士官说。 “如果你能在这个站点胜任，你可以在其他任何地方成功。”

The area is littered with shipwrecks and sea tales, not all deep in the past. In 1971, in the middle of a foggy night, a pair of oil tankers, each owned by Standard Oil, collided under the bridge.

该地区到处都是沉船和海洋故事，并非都是发生在很远的过去。 1971 年，在一个雾蒙蒙的夜里，在桥下相撞。那两艘油轮都属于标准石油公司（Standard Oil）。

The disaster led to the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 and the Vessel Traffic Service, a sort of air traffic control for congested or tricky ports in the United States. In a dim, windowless room at a Coast Guard station on Yerba Buena Island in the center of San Francisco Bay, the traffic controllers sit in front of large screens at all hours.

这场灾难导致了 1972 年的《港口和水道安全法案和船舶交通服务规则》。这是针对美国拥挤或棘手港口的类似空中交通管制的规则。在旧金山湾中心 Yerba Buena 岛海岸警卫队的一个昏暗无窗的房间里，交通管制员时刻盯着大屏幕。

Ship traffic that used to be tracked here with large paper maps and magnets on a wall is now done with digital screens and color-coded dots. Blue is a passenger ship or ferry. Yellow is a ship carrying petroleum or other chemicals.

过去在这里使用大型纸质地图和墙上的磁铁来跟踪船舶交通，现在使用数字屏幕和彩色编码点完成。蓝色是客船或渡轮；黄色是运输石油或其他化学品的船。

There are more than 30 controllers on staff, most of them civilians with deep local knowledge. Becoming certified takes about a year, and Tom Boone trains them.

有 30 多名管制员，其中大多数是对当地有深入了解的平民。获得认证大约需要一年时间，汤姆·布恩(Tom Boone) 对他们进行培训。

Is there anything good about fog?

“No,” Mr. Boone said, without hesitation.

雾有什么好处吗？

“没有，”布恩（Boone)先生回答，丝毫不犹豫。

Despite all the effort, accidents happen and fog is the reason. In 2007, in fog, a container ship struck the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland. In 2013 a tanker did the same thing.

尽管作出了所有的努力，事故还是会发生，原因是海雾。 2007 年，在海雾中，一艘集装箱船撞上了连接旧金山和奥克兰的海湾大桥。 2013年，一艘油轮出了同样的事故。

Navigation is so tricky that the biggest ships are met miles offshore by bar pilots, local experts who climb aboard and temporarily take control. They must find their way through everything else on the water — smaller ships, sailboats, kayakers, even swimmers. And fog.

导航是如此棘手，以至于最大的那些船只能在离岸数英里的地方由 “领航员”接手；他们是当地的导航高手，爬上大船、并暂时掌舵。他们必须在水上的所有“漂浮物”中找到自己的出路——避开小船、帆船、皮划艇，甚至游泳者。当然，还有雾。

Mr. Boone, a Navy veteran who specialized in seamanship and navigation, has sailed around the world and seen plenty of fog-prone ports, from Houston to Hong Kong. “The fog here just seems thicker,” he said.

布恩（Boone）先生是一位专门从事航海技术和航海的海军老兵。他曾在世界各地航行，从休斯敦到香港，到过许多多雾的港口。 “这里的雾似乎更浓了，”他说。

Back near the Golden Gate, at the Coast Guard station, sailors monitor fog by eye and experience. Stepping out the door, rushing out for another rescue mission, the north tower of the bridge feels close enough to touch.

回到金门附近的海岸警卫队驻地，水手们用肉眼和经验监测雾气。踏出大门，冲向另一场救援任务，桥的北塔感觉近在咫尺。

Petty Officer Mercado appreciates the beauty, but sees mostly danger. He considers it foggy when he cannot see Alcatraz or the San Francisco skyline. It is bad fog — mission-altering, risk-adding, response-lengthening fog — when he cannot see the bridge.

梅尔卡多（Mercado）士官欣赏海雾的美丽，但常常看到其危险。当他看不到恶魔岛或旧金山的天际线时，他认为有雾。当他看不到桥时，就是大雾——那种改变任务、增加风险、延长救援的大雾。

Rescues run the gamut: swimmers in distress, sailboats in rough seas, motorboats disabled.

救援的范围很广：遇险的游泳者、波涛汹涌大海中的帆船、失去动力的摩托艇。

There are stories of the sailboat that collided with a container ship unseen in the fog. Of the motorboat that cut across the tow lines of a Coast Guard lifeboat pulling a disabled ship to safety.

有帆船与雾中看不见的集装箱船相撞的故事。在海岸警卫队将一艘失去动力的船拉向安全地带时，一艘摩托艇在它们中间的拖缆上横跨而过。

Less fog, Petty Officer Mercado said, “would make our job easier.”

“少些雾，”梅尔卡多（Mercado）士官说，“会让我们的工作更轻松。”

（待续）