on Earth
Events NASA experts recently released a message that earthquakes in Chile may have affected changes in the axis of rotation Lands. According to research by Richard Gross, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the seventh strongest earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday will shorten the Earth's day by 1.26 milliseconds.
The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the impact of the earthquake effect in Chile also found that the globe's axis would shift by about three inches (8 cm or 27 milliseconds).
Earth's axis layout is not the same as its northsouth axis, which rotates once a day at about 1,000 miles per hour (1,604 km/h). The axis scheme is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It moves about 33 feet (10 meters) away from the northsouth axis.
Major earthquakes in the past have already changed the days and the Earth's axis. The 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Sumatra (in 2004), which caused the tsunami, was supposed to reduce the length of the day on Earth by 6.8 microseconds and shift the axis by 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 arcmilliseconds).
The length of an Earth day is approximately 24 hours. Over the course of the year, it gradually changes by one millisecond, increasing in winter when the Earth rotates more slowly and decreasing in summer.
The earthquake in Chile was less destructive than it was in Sumatra, but its effects are most noticeable due to its special location. The epicenter of the Chilean tremors was located in the middle latitudes, and not near the equator, as during the events in Sumatra. In addition, the angle at which the Earth's crust oscillated is steeper than it was in Sumatra, explained a scientist from NASA.
“For example, the earthquakes in Chile had a greater impact on the Earth's moving mass and the displacement of the Earth's axis,” said officials from the US National Administration.
Richard Gross says his findings are based on data on early earthquakes in Chile. The more information about their characteristics is revealed, the more likely it is that his predictions about the effects of earthquakes will change.
More than 700 people died as a result of the earthquakes in Chile. The tremors caused massive destruction in the South American country.