|
Massive Earthquakes shifted the World's Axes
You forgot to mention "Massive Earthquakes" shifted the World's axes. This could be what is causing some of our strange weather lately!
The Japan earthquake shifted the axes about 14 cm; that's about 2 or 3 hours of normal movement.
The Earth's axis has moved about 18.6 meters since 1910. Mostly it wobbles around in a rough circle with a radius of 9 m around the north pole, but the center of this circle also drifts about 120 cm a year. For a plot of the motion, look at the "polar motion"
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Chile may have also made our planet's days shorter, according to NASA scientist Richard Gross.
A minor change in the Earth?s axis isn't expected to alter much in terms of weather. The planet's tilt influences the seasons, allowing for winter, spring, summer and fall, and it would take a far greater change in the Earth's axis to affect them.
The Chile quake may have moved the Earth?s axis by about 3 inches, Gross said.
The quake also shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds, the scientist determined, using a complex model he and others developed.
The Earth's rotation was likely affected by the shift in the planet's mass, which could cause it to spin faster.
Scientists believe other quakes, such as the 2004 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Sumatra, have also decreased the Earth's day. That quake is believed to have shortened it by 6.8 microseconds, and altered the axis by nearly 7 inches.
|