Japan’s Earthquake/Tsunami “Blog Update”
The 8.9 magnitude earthquake which hit Japan has been upgraded to a 9.0. This massive quake has also altered our planet in many ways.
A special report from BBC News stated that part of Japan moved up to 4 meters, up to 20 meters closest to the earthquake’s epicenter. This movement was so dramatic that it changed the sea bed in such a way that it needs to be remapped for the shipping industry. Also:
The earthquake may have slightly shortened earth days and moved its axis.
In my recent post I stated, “NASA’s JPL scientist Richard Gross estimated; The massive 8.8 earthquake which struck offshore Maule, Chili in 2010 may have changed the entire Earth’s rotation and shortened the length of days by 1.26 microseconds.” Well it looks like Richard Gross has a new estimate on the recent quake in Japan.
Science Daily (Mar. 15, 2011)
Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan earthquake — the fifth largest since 1900 — affected Earth’s rotation. His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth’s mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).
His calculations also show the quake should have shifted the position of the Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by about 17 centimeters (6.5 inches), towards 133 degrees east longitude.
This shift will cause the Earth to wobble a little bit differently as it rotates.
For the complete article in Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110314210442.htm
Category: In the News, Miscellaneous, The Z-Files
