Bland Philip A
Imperial College London Department of Earth Science and Engineering South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2005 Dec 15;363(1837):2793-810. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2005.1674.
Recent data, and modelling of the interaction between asteroids and the atmosphere, has defined a complete size-frequency distribution for terrestrial impactors, from meteorite-sized objects up to kilometre-sized asteroids, for both the upper atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Although there remain significant uncertainties in the incidence of specific size-fractions of impactors, these estimates allow us to constrain the threat posed by impacts to human populations. It is clear that impacts remain a significant natural hazard, but uniquely, they are a threat that we can accurately predict, and take steps to avoid.
最近的数据以及对小行星与大气层相互作用的模拟，已经确定了从陨石大小的物体到千米大小的小行星等地球撞击体在上层大气和地球表面的完整尺寸-频率分布。尽管撞击体特定尺寸部分的发生率仍存在重大不确定性，但这些估计使我们能够限制撞击对人类造成的威胁。很明显，撞击仍然是一种重大的自然灾害，但独特的是，它们是一种我们能够准确预测并采取措施避免的威胁。
