The massive earthquake 8.9 / 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan last week has not only devastated the country. It’s shifted the earth’s figure axis (the axis balanced by mass) about 15 centimeters and this is going to make days shorter.
According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) specialist Richard Gross the Earth’s figure axis shifted to the 139th degree east longitude and that’s 2 times greater than the shift caused by last year’s Chilean Earthquake.
It’s not going to be a noticeable difference in daylight. Gross says he deducts that daytime is going to be reduced by 1.6 microseconds (millionths of a second.) Last year’s Chilean earthquake resulted in a reduction of about 1.2 microseconds.
This reduction in daylight is a direct result of the mass-shifting of the earthquake and this changed the speed of Earth’s rotation. This effects winds and jet streams. Gross also says things like the ice melting off of Greenland can cause the earth to slow down.
Any mass-shifting events like the moving of tectonic plates can also make the Earth start to wobble. Gross explains:
“The Earth rotates around its rotation axis, but its mass is balanced about a different axis, the figure axis. Because these axes are different, the Earth wobbles as it rotates … It’s like the tire on your car; if that tire isn’t perfectly balanced, it will vibrate. The mechanic will put weights on the tire to rebalance it around its axis,” Gross said.
But unlike a tire, the Earth can’t be fixed by a mechanic. Hopefully Mother Nature had this planned and it’s not a sign of damage done by human existence. [Daily Galaxy]
