Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth - Yahoo! News

Kind of long I know, but wow!

"The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).

The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).

The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).

Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).

One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.

The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.

The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake's fault, NASA scientists said.

"This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis," NASA officials said.

Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change.

The Chile earthquake has killed more than 700 people and caused widespread devastation in the South American country.

Several major telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert have escaped damage, according to the European Southern Observatory managing them.

A salt-measuring NASA satellite instrument destined to be installed on an Argentinean satellite was also undamaged in the earthquake, JPL officials said.

The Aquarius instrument was in the city of Bariloche, Argentina, where it is being installed in the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D) satellite. The satellite integration facility is about 365 miles (588 km) from the Chile quake's epicenter.

The Aquarius instrument is designed to provide monthly global maps of the ocean's salt concentration in order to track current circulation and its role in climate change."

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[Ray21 10+ year member]

So the end of the world will start on December 31, 2011?

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

So the end of the world will start on December 31, 2011?

Yes so you should begin sending me all your monies, you wont need it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Just like every computer in the world and there for civilization was gonna come to an end on december 31, 1999.

 

[k_schutte 10+ year member]

So the end of the world will start on December 31, 2011?

^^LOL^^

I never understood why the **** people care about shit like this... If the world is going to end, it IS going to end!!! That is it, us "knowing" when it will end is not going to stop it from happening. Just like Y2K, that shit was funny as hell!!! crazy fukkin people going nuts and buying up everything from the stores and making little shelters and all that shit.

 

[Ray21 10+ year member]

Yes so you should begin sending me all your monies, you wont need it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

The only way you'll be getting my monies is in exhange for teh buttseckz... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

The only way you'll be getting my monies is in exhange for teh buttseckz... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

Oh you must have lots and lots of monies //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

I loved that nike y2k commercial, with the jarrife's running around and the nuclear missles flying around in circles.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Dammit! How and I gonna get my nano-seconds back!!

They are gone my friend. Gone forever.

 

[Ken448 10+ year member]

Well, theres 1.26 milliseconds Ill never get back

 

[MmatsDude 10+ year member]

interesting, good info here.

 

[edzy 10+ year member]

Thanks for the update,

Too bad its like 5 years old news.

11 January 2005

NASA Details How Indian Ocean Quake Affects Earth Rotation

Seismic event decreased length of day, changed planet's shape

NASA scientists using data from the Indian Ocean earthquake have calculated that it affected Earth's rotation, decreased the length of day, slightly changed the planet's shape and shifted the North Pole by centimeters.

According to a January 10 NASA press release, all earthquakes have some affect on Earth's rotation, but the December 26, 2004, earthquake that created the huge tsunami was so powerful that it changed Earth's rotation.

"Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth's rotation, from seasonal weather down to driving a car," said Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Chao and Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have been routinely calculating earthquakes' effects in changing the Earth's rotation, in length-of-day, in Earth's gravitational field, and in polar motion that shifts the North Pole.

The "mean North Pole" shifted by about 2.5 centimeters, and the earthquake decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds. Physically, this is like a spinning skater drawing arms closer to the body resulting in a faster spin.

The quake also affected Earth's shape. Earth's oblateness (flattening on the top and bulging at the equator) decreased by about one part per 10 billion.

Information and images are available at NASA - Earthquake Satellite Imagery

Details about Indian Ocean Earthquake are available at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_slav_ts.html

Read more: NASA Details How Indian Ocean Quake Affects Earth Rotation

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

My story is only one day old from an earthquake three days ago. The science behind it is a lot older than five years. If you would of actually read my post you would of noticed the reference to the 2004 9.1 quake, but thank you anyway.