I really just want to be a scholar

From the plane to the car and then to the off-road vehicle, Qin Ke and his party of more than ten people took almost a day to reach the edge of the desert.

Qin Ke had been to the Great Gobi before, and had seen the desolate and desolate scene.

This time I came to the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, but saw a different scene.Looking around, one side is an oasis where green grass can be seen, and the other side is a world of yellow sand that is rapidly desolate and green traces are hard to find.

As the sun sets, the rays of light are like blood, adding a bit of mystery and loneliness to the boundless desert world in front of us. You can also vaguely see the roaring yellow sand storm in the distance, as if burning a raging flame.

Looking at the towering sand mountains at different distances, and the sand dunes with distinct layers and smooth ridges, Ning Qingyun couldn't help sighing in a low voice: "This is the big desert..."

As the only girl in the group, and also a young, beautiful and attractive young girl, Ning Qingyun's every move will always become the object of attention of the boys. At this time, someone replied with a smile: "Yes, Professor Ning, This is called the Kumtag Desert, which is part of the Taklamakan Desert and is also the desert closest to the city in the world. The city of Arada we drove away just now is only more than 500 meters away from here in a straight line, separated by a river."

The speaker was a staff member of the Tazhong Meteorological Observatory, named Wu Youwen. He was a talkative young man who belonged to the Han people who lived here since he was a child.

Because it was getting late, everyone will rest outside the city here tonight, and will continue to rush to the meteorological observation and research station deep in the desert tomorrow. Now Wu Youwen is leading everyone to familiarize themselves with the situation in the desert in front of them.

Pointing to the desert in the distance, he introduced: "This place belongs to the Silk Road in the past, and it is called the 'Great Trouble with Ghosts and Demons'. Tang Xuanzang also passed through this place when he was seeking the Western Scriptures, and suffered a lot. There are also many records here. Related stories and legends.”

He pointed to the further sand dunes and said: "In that direction, about [-] kilometers away from here, it is said that there are still some ruins of the ancient Loulan Kingdom, but it is a pity that they have been completely covered by the yellow sand. But the old people often say that as long as you stand Close your eyes here and hear the old songs."

Jiang Wei first looked at Ning Qingyun: "Xiao Ning, what do you think?"

Jiang Weixian is a real master of physics. He is not only an authoritative expert in fluid mechanics, but also has made great achievements in climate meteorology and weather forecasting. In particular, he has studied fluid mechanics for a long time and is good at analyzing climate phenomena through fluid mechanics. He is better than many famous climate meteorologists in studying extreme airflow weather.

Hearing Wu Youwen bring up a serious matter, everyone's spirits lifted.

The so-called "dry rain", also known as "phantom rain", refers to an extremely rare weather phenomenon in which it rains at high altitudes and has no rain at low altitudes.

Wu Youwen can't answer this question. He has only graduated two years ago, so he doesn't have much work experience, and he is just an ordinary recorder. How can he answer such a professional climate question.

Qin Ke thought for a while and asked, "If there are food crops that can be grown in such desertified land, do you think anyone would be willing to grow them?"

Wu Youwen said with a sigh: "It is too difficult to fix and control sand. Just like the place where we are standing, it is said that it used to be land a few decades ago, but it was deserted later, and even weeds did not grow."

"Because there is water on the other side of the river, the food crops are mainly sorghum and corn, and there are also medicinal herbs such as wolfberry. .” Wu Youwen pointed to the grassland where the sheep were grazing in the distance and said:
"It used to be yellow sand there. Ten years ago, a university professor brought a team to study 'desert soil'. They wanted the sand to acquire the characteristics of soil. They added 'plant fiber binder' extracted from plants to the sand. It took more than two years to fix the yellow sand, divert water for irrigation, and apply chemical fertilizers. After more than two years of tossing, it successfully turned the yellow sand back into ordinary land. , This place was abandoned again. Later, someone contracted this land to grow pasture, which is what we see now, but due to the loss of fertility and secondary desertification of the soil, the pasture is not growing well."

Ning Qingjun knew that the teacher was studying herself, so she thought carefully for a while before answering: "Last year, the 'lakes' in the Taklamakan Desert were mainly affected by the Tarim River, overflowing on both sides of the river to form transient waters. The area of ​​the water body is relatively small and its existence time is relatively short, basically it will not affect the regional climate, even if it does, it will be very slight and localized, and will not affect the hinterland of the desert."

In order to study the new type of desert sweet potato, Qin Ke also worked hard to study the geography and climate of the desert, and consulted a lot of information. At this time, he added with a smile:
"I have also heard the name of this 'Taklamakan Desert Weather Station' for a long time. I heard that in the meteorological field, as long as the data on the evolution of the atmospheric environment in desert areas, heat wave disasters, sand and dust weather research, and desertification prevention and control are mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is Without the 'Taklimakan Desert Meteorological Station' who have been on their posts for 30 years and provided these precious scientific research data, many research fields on desert climate in our country will still be blank."

This time, the "Taklamakan Desert Weather Station" invited Jiang Weixian's team to come because of the extreme weather suspected of "dry rain".

This time, the "Taklimakan Desert Meteorological Station" has invited several domestic expert teams on climate and meteorology to study the "dry rain" phenomenon, and Jiang Weixian's team will naturally not be missed.

On the contrary, Deng Zhaoliang remembered that Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun seemed to have studied crops, and had the patent rights for more than ten or twenty new types of seeds. In the past two years, a new type of tomato caused a frenzy on the Internet.He couldn't help asking curiously: "Junior Qin, if you ask that, are you researching desert crops?"

Xu Jiaxing, another postdoctoral fellow who graduated last year and joined Jiang Weixian's lab, asked aloud: "Brother Wu, I know that the precipitation in the Tarim River Basin last year reached the largest in history, and the superimposed high temperature and snowmelt effect caused a large number of rare lakes to appear in the Taklamakan Desert. How have these lakes been doing lately?"

Deng Zhaoliang also came here for the first time. He was surprised: "250 kilometers? Is that the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert?"

Wu Youwen laughed dumbfounded: "Here? Not even weeds can grow here. Professor Qin, are you kidding?"

Listening to Wu Youwen's introduction, the old academician Jiang Weixian, who has long been used to traveling all over the world, is alright. Qin Ke, Ning Qingyun, Deng Zhaoliang and other accompanying researchers who came here for the first time felt that the scenery in front of them was different. Yes, there is an ancient mysterious atmosphere.

Whether this is a "dry rain" phenomenon, what causes it, and what results it will lead to...all need to be studied clearly.

As soon as Ning Qingyun was blown by his breath, her little face flushed a little, and she replied in a low voice: "I will be glib." The girl said, but she had already hugged Qin Ke's arm intimately.

When talking about these things, the look on Wu Youwen's face was like the story of those heroic companies in the army who mentioned their number, with sacred pride.

Wu Youwen walked with the people for about half an hour, then pointed to the distance and said, "This is the northwest direction. Follow the road in this direction for about 250 kilometers, and you will see our weather observation station."

"Even if there is a princess, it is impossible to be more beautiful, cute and smart than my Yun'er." Qin Ke leaned closer to the girl with a ponytail and whispered in his ear.

Wu Youwen shook his head and said: "More than 20 years ago, wild wolves could still be seen here, but with the development of the city, the population has become denser, and the wild wolves are almost extinct. The locals said that they haven't heard howling wolves for a long time."

Most of them are acquaintances in front of them, and they also know her and Qin Ke's couple status, so although Ning Qingyun is shy, she doesn't mind showing this kind of intimacy.

I don’t know how many biologists want to study desert crops, and there has never been a successful example. The impression that deserts are equivalent to "no grass grows" has long been ingrained. Even if Qin Ke is a good mathematician, he still cannot handle such a difficult biological research topic. .

Jiang Weixian frowned slightly. My disciple is good at everything, but he is a little "playful". He never focuses on a certain field, and he does mathematics, physics, and biology. I heard that he is still working with a physicist in Deguo on quantum Computational research.

Xu Jiaxing pondered: "Will the evaporated water affect the climate of the Taklamakan Desert, which led to the phenomenon of 'dry rain' this year?"

Qin Ke paid more attention to the local crops, so he asked, "What crops are mainly grown here?"

Due to atmospheric circulation, cold air occasionally flows over the desert, causing dark clouds to pile up and rain. However, due to the extreme dryness and heat in the low altitude, the evaporation is extremely strong, forming a rising dry and high-temperature airflow. , can't fall to the ground at all, and the ground is still dry.This is also the reason for the name "dry rain".

Wu Youwen said: "Basically, they are all dry. The desert cannot hold water. The accumulated water formed by heavy rain and natural seepage cannot penetrate deep into the desert. Under high temperature conditions, it quickly disappears in the form of evaporation and seepage. , which has now turned back into dunes and basins."

Qin Ke squatted down and dug the sand on the ground. It was almost all yellow sand here, but when he dug deeper, he could still see some sticky soil.

He didn't go into details, and everyone thought "oh" in understanding, and didn't ask any more questions.

If Qin Ke had devoted all his energies to physics, he would have achieved far more achievements than he is now, right?
But thinking that Qin Ke is a very assertive person, Jiang Weixian didn't mention it again.

Ning Qingyun rolled his pretty eyes: "I think you want to meet Gu Loulan's ghost princess?"

"If there is such a food crop, as long as the price is not too outrageous, of course we are all willing to plant it. At least in this area, there will be thousands of acres of more arable land." grown food crops.

As the so-called sedan chair is carried by everyone, Qin Ke's words of approval made Wu Youwen feel relieved: "Professor Qin has won the award, this is our duty as scientific researchers. By the way, about the weather station All of you have read the briefing on the observation of extreme weather suspected of 'dry rain'?"

He knew in his heart that in such a land, the imperfect new desert sweet potato can grow and bear fruit only with a special nutrient solution.

And standing on the edge of the great desert, with yellow sand under your feet, the hot wind blowing from the desert makes people feel dry and uncomfortable on the skin, and then feels a little awe of the vast "sea of ​​death" in front of them Ning Qingyun was no exception, and naturally found the most trustworthy support around her.

Wu Youwen said proudly: "Yes, our weather station is currently the only meteorological observation station in the world that penetrates more than 200 kilometers into the hinterland of the mobile desert. The temperature difference between day and night there exceeds 40°C, and it belongs to the country's first-class difficult station. However, our weather station It has been nearly 30 years since the station was established, and no matter how bad the conditions are, the staff have always taken turns staying there, carrying out routine meteorological observations and atmospheric composition monitoring every day."

Why do you say "suspect"?Because the "dry rain" currently recorded has only appeared in the Sahara Desert, and has never been seen in other deserts in the world, including the Taklamakan Desert.

Qin Ke also heard it, and it was actually the sound of the wind passing through the sand dunes. He just had a preconceived impression, and his brain automatically added three-point imagination, which made it vaguely like a song.

Qin Ke spread his hands: "Well, it's just that the current results are not satisfactory to us, so they haven't been announced."

Qin Ke smiled: "I'm just assuming."

In order to better study desert sweet potatoes, Ning Qingyun also asked Weiguang to help collect news events about deserts from all over the world and push them to her. Therefore, I have learned about the news that a large number of "lakes" were formed in the Taklimakan Desert last year, and combined them in the laboratory. With the knowledge I have accumulated over the past six months and the archives I have reviewed, it will naturally not be difficult to answer such questions.

"Then do you want to take you to meet the prince of Guloulan?" Qin Ke said with a smile.

Some people saw this young couple's squabble, some others didn't pay attention, but they didn't say much, Deng Zhaoliang was just envious in his heart, he really wanted to have such a beautiful and lovely girlfriend.

Seeing someone grazing sheep on the mottled grass in the distance, he asked curiously, "I heard that there are wild wolves on the edge of the desert. Is it true?"

He didn't go on, but everyone understood that it was so hot in May, and by the "stove" period in July and August, the Taklamakan Desert might become a veritable "sea of ​​flames".

Ning Qingyun, who had a youthful aura, closed her eyes and listened intently for a while, then said to Qin Ke in a low voice, "I seem to have really heard the singing."

Jiang Wei first picked up the binoculars and looked at it for a while before answering: "This summer, the high temperature here may break the historical record. Just now I saw that the air in the distance has begun to distort due to the high temperature. This is the temperature above the surface. This phenomenon occurs only when the volume of high-temperature dry air expands rapidly, and the surface temperature is estimated to exceed 70°C. But today is May [-]th, and there are still two months before the scorching heat of July and August..."

This question has aroused everyone's attention, and even Academician Jiang Weixian, who was observing the distance with a telescope, turned his head back in surprise.

Jiang Weixian nodded with satisfaction: "That's right. The 'dry rain' this time should be caused by other reasons. As for the reason, we will naturally know when we get to the weather station and get the first-hand observation reports and data. Alright, everyone go back to rest early, we will enter the desert tomorrow, and the journey will not be easy.”

At this moment, Wu Youwen's cell phone rang. After he connected the phone, he was completely stunned. After a while, he said to everyone: "The weather station observed another phenomenon of 'dry rain'. Just half an hour ago, The location is about [-] kilometers away from the weather station..."

Everyone looked at each other, even Qin Ke frowned slightly.

The "dry rain" phenomenon, which was extremely rare in the Sahara Desert, appeared twice in a month in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert.

This abnormality gave Qin Ke an inexplicable feeling that a storm was about to come.