论文标题
地球可以平坦吗？物理海洋学家的观点
Can the earth be flat ? A physical oceanographer's perspective
论文作者
论文摘要
根据最近的一项调查，美国2％的人口坚信地球是平坦的。这个想法是由平地地球协会成员预示的，并通过互联网论坛和其他公共媒体渠道颁布。儿童和年轻学生很容易成为目标。作为一名与这些思想相遇的科学老师，要坚定面对其根本缺陷的基础，同时仍然对那些拥护这种信仰的人保持同情，这可能是一个挑战。虽然我们没有声称在这种困难的情况下得到答案，但正如两位研究海洋物理学的科学家一样，我们试图向感兴趣的讲师提供帮助。在这里，我们使用物理海洋学社区的最先进的计算工具表明，我们从船只，卫星和自动观察平台上观察到的海洋特性如果地球平坦，则不应存在。特别是，使用在平坦地球上对海洋进行的第一个逼真的模拟，我们表明北大西洋的Gyre在平坦的地球上似乎完全不同。对于物理海洋学社区的成员，此处介绍的结果显而易见。但是，对于平坦地球社会社区，它可能会带来智力挑战。
According to a recent survey, 2% of the U.S. population is convinced that the earth is flat. This idea is heralded by members of the Flat Earth Society, and promulgated through Internet forums and other public media channels. Children and young students are easy targets. As a science teacher confronted by these ideas, it can be a challenge to firmly confront their fundamentally flawed foundation while still remaining compassionate towards those who espouse such beliefs. While we do not purport to have the answer for such difficult situations, as two scientists studying ocean physics, we attempt to lend a helping hand to the interested instructor. Here, we use the most advanced computational tools of the physical oceanography community to show that the properties of the ocean that we observe from ships, satellites, and autonomous observing platforms should not exist if the earth were flat. In particular, using the first realistic simulation of the ocean on a flat Earth, we show that the North Atlantic gyre, appears entirely different on a flat Earth. For members of the physical oceanography community, the results presented here are obvious; however, for the Flat Earth Society community, it may present an intellectual challenge.
