专家：2018年全球强震或增至20次这些地区的民众要警惕_BEC初级作文

专家：2018年全球强震或增至20次这些地区的民众要警惕

Bilham and Bendick found that there had been periods of around five years when Earth’s rotation slowed by such an amount several times over the past century and a half. Crucially, these periods were followed by periods when the numbers of intense earthquakes increased.

比尔汉姆和本迪克发现，在过去一个多世纪里，曾经出现过多个为期约五年的地球自转减速期，每次减缓千分一秒。关键的是，地球自转减速期之后，大地震次数就会增加。

“It is straightforward,” said Bilham. “The Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes.”

比尔汉姆称：“很明显，地球向提前五年给我们发了地震预警。”

This link is particularly important because Earth’s rotation began one of its periodic slowdowns more than four years ago. “The inference is clear,” said Bilham. “Next year we should see a significant increase in numbers of severe earthquakes. We have had it easy this year. So far we have only had about six severe earthquakes. We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018.”

这个发现尤为重要，因为四年多前，地球进入了一个自转减速周期。“结论显而易见，明年我们应该会发现大地震的次数显著增加。今年一年还算平静，目前为止我们只经历了6次强烈地震。从2018年开始，我们每年很可能会经历20次大地震。”

Exactly why decreases in day length should be linked to earthquakes is unclear although scientists suspect that slight changes in the behavior of Earth’s core could be causing both effects.