According to Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology the 9.0 magnitude 'quake was so powerful it shifted the axis around which the Earth rotates.
The shift to the Earth's tilt will have profound, if subtle effects on the length of the day and the passage of the seasons.
Like a figure skater drawing in her arms during a pirouette, the speed of the planet's rotation will change as the globe's mass has been redistributed.
But Canadian geologists say that the 'very, very tiny' changes won't be seen for centuries.
False: “The Japanese earthquake on March 11 is an example of a supermoon causing earthly effects.” This is not true. In fact, the March 11 moon shows exactly the opposite, since the moon is not particularly close to Earth on March 11, nor is it full or new moon (aligned with the sun and Earth). In fact, the moon on March 11 is close to first quarter – at a right angle to the Earth/sun line. Thus – according to the supermoon-earthquake connection theory – the moon’s effect on earthly water and solid rock tides should have been at its least on the day of the Japan earthquake.
These large scale quakes of magnitude 8 and up shift things about to the extent that the 'normal' wobble of the Earth's axis (its nutation) will be perturbed, and measurably so. The rate of spin is affected and so the length of a day is altered. These effects consist of tiny amounts in each case, but considering the Earth's mass and hence its inertia, the energy released must be such that the numbers involved are unimaginably large.
The Alaska earthquake of Good Friday, 1964, was of a similar magnitude and its effects were felt over large areas of the globe. The continental United States experienced undulations, to the extent that the land under Houston rose and fell by about four inches, and similarly, Cape Kennedy by about two and a half inches - albeit that these effects were so slow in happening that they weren't directly felt by anyone at the time. There's an excellent account of these events in one of the 'Planet Earth' series of books published by Time-Life thirty years ago.
The destruction today in Japan is vastly in excess of the lethal Alaska quake of '64. How people survive these events is a testament to their toughness, and luck.
I have been in one minor earthquake when I was staying with friends in Long Beach, CA. It lasted all of 10 seconds, with no damage, and I did not realize what it was until everyone who was running out of the house screamed to me to get out of the house. When I finally walked outside, I was told that it was a minor earthquake.
Still, I can't imagine the utter panic and destructive force that this quake had upon the Japanese people, or their country ............ or, as this thread discusses, the effects upon the world as a whole.
In this sense, we are all neighbor's riding this great big blue and green ball in space ......... together in this one sense, and yet, sadly, distant in many aspects of our daily lives. Sort of puts Life into perspective, n'est ce pas?
In this sense, we are all neighbor's riding this great big blue and green ball in space ......... together in this one sense, and yet, sadly, distant in many aspects of our daily lives. Sort of puts Life into perspective, n'est ce pas?
The good thing about all this matter is the fact the Japan society is one that its familiar with these type of natural phenomenons.
They invest many dollars in infrastructure and buildings that survive this type of natural cataclysm.
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