Firecaneとは 意味・読み方・使い方

Firecane refers to a hypothetical confluence of meteorological and man-made disasters, whereby a hurricane crossing an oil-laden expanse of water generates lightning which ignites the flammable fossil fuel, creating a vortex of fire. A fearful imagining born of recent cataclysms in the Gulf of Mexico, the term has gained currency in New Orleans, the city inundated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and which in 2010 was near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The likelihood of such an occurrence has been dismissed by meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground commercial weather service, who contends that wave action and rain water would quickly douse a fire set by a lightning strike on fresh oil. Lightning strikes from thunderstorms may cause isolated fires, as happened on a drill ship near the spill.