Monday, March 14, 2011

The Day the Earth Sped Up

Tsunami Wave Height Chart

This image shows a projection of tsunami wave heights following the 8.9-magnitude quake.

This weekend, it wasn't just the shift to Daylight Saving Time that reset our clocks.  ... The 8.9-magnitude quake -- the fifth largest in recorded history -- shaved about one-millionth of second off our day and tilted the planet's axis by several inches. The shifting of tectonic plates beneath the Pacific Ocean opened up a crack about 250 miles long, causing a good portion of Earth's crust to tumble inside.

... While the speeding up of Earth isn't expected to have any immediate or long term impacts, the tilt of the axis might.

"There is still a scientific debate as to what causes ice ages," Kaku said. "The leading theory is that there are tiny perturbations in the axis of the Earth as it turns around the sun that accumulate with time. These small shifts, this wobbling of the axis of the Earth may in fact cause ice ages." ...

via The Day the Earth Sped Up : Discovery News.

5 comments:

marjoriekaye said...

Holy shit.

Xeno said...

Yeah, I agree. It is quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable. Let's blast the Minocs off the power cables and get out of here.

Mickey J Barczyk said...

Yeah, shorter days, thats exactly what I need...

josh said...

Ugh I hate the cold weather

arjay001 said...

I wonder if they restarted the LHC ?? Be interesting to plot CERN activity and quakes. I remember something about a conection between the two.