The end is near? earthquakes have shorten out days...

[Jerry]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100302/sc_space/chileearthquakemayhaveshorteneddaysonearth

Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth
SPACE.com

Clinton visits quake-hit Chile AFP – View of a car trapped in rubble after a tsunami hit the Chilean town of San Antonio on February 28. US ...

    * Massive earthquake strikes Chile Slideshow:Massive earthquake strikes Chile
    * Raw Video: Searching for survivors in Chile Play Video Video:Raw Video: Searching for survivors in Chile AP
    * Tsunami ravages Chile's islands Play Video Video:Tsunami ravages Chile's islands Reuters

SPACE.com Staff

SPACE.com Space.com Staff

space.com – Tue Mar 2, 10:00 am ET

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.

    * Images: Deadly Earthquakes Past and Present
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    * Original Story: Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

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Just another reason why ppl wanna believe everything is going down in 2012? :P
Your 2 cents?

[SOawesomeness]

I'm not debating or anything, but I'm kinda scared that a big one will hit us (Cali) and I'll be trapped underneath fallen furniture or something... and my family and friends will be injured. Yeah, California's structures are apparently fit for an earthquake, but that doesn't mean that furniture and trees will fall and crush people.

>.>;;

AHHH ANXIETY. ;.;

[Jerry]

With the big quakes in Haiti and now Chile -

the bay area is kinda overdue for a "big one"

the joke was back around after the Loma prieta earthquake was that essentially California would just break away from the US and float out into the Pacific being almost like Hawaii. Assuming California wouldnt sink. :P

Sadly and realistically enough, i dont have an "earthquake kit"

and you know once the "big one hits" internet will be down, phones [land land and cells] wont work, power will be down and all hell will break loose and knowing our luck--- zombies will invade.

that will be a bad day indeed >_<

[SukebeStudios]

I personally don't see the reason to fear anything. If we're going to die...why fear what we know is gonna come? I think it's really the FEAR of not knowing exactly WHEN the next big quake is coming to take us out. At least if I knew when it was gonna happen, I'd die watching anime, or playing Xbox and eating Chinese food. Best way to go IMO.

[Steve.Young]

I have accepted that I am going to die, that we all have an end to our lives. I won't go down without a fight though. *Blasts a zombie in the face with a auto-shotgun*

Speaking of which, I need to get ready a earthquake emergency kit. Sounds like a good idea.

[Jerry]

Speaking of which, I need to get ready a "rebuild civilization and zombie survival" emergency kit. Sounds like a good idea.

Fixed. in case of zombieland - break glass.  :D

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Just sounds like hysteria from 2012.
The earth has existed for 4billion years, and in that time there have likely been earthquakes FAR larger then any we have seen in are fraction of existence on this planet.
I may be no Geologist/Astronomer/Etc but I think I am right to assume that the earth has moved countless inches off axis and countless millisecond decreases to it's days sense it's existence and that a few more is meaningless in comparison.

I have accepted that I am going to die, that we all have an end to our lives. I won't go down without a fight though. *Blasts a zombie in the face with a auto-shotgun*

Speaking of which, I need to get ready a earthquake emergency kit. Sounds like a good idea.

*Preps Nail Grenades and Trip Mines*
I knew I kept this outdated piece of crap Anarchist Cookbook for something!
Let's rock.

But yes an EQ emergency kit sounds like a capital idea.

[Jerry]

The pacific plate is the biggest plate of them all, assuming it just doesnt randomly slide under/over the next be plate(s) next to it i could imagine major shifts in weather patterns.

What we could consider "poles" wouldnt be poles anymore.

That and didnt Taiwan have a recent 6.2+ earth quake?

I'm telling you people we're next in the bay area.

better stock pile on canned goods, water, and ammo for them zombies.  :-[

[Glitch]

The earth will end on 2012......just like it did during y2k.
Just clear things up for people, the Mayas didn't say the world would end in 2012. In their religion it simply means the start of a new age.
I'm sure if the ancient mayans could see people now they would say "talk about jack asses".

the joke was back around after the Loma prieta earthquake was that essentially California would just break away from the US and float out into the Pacific being almost like Hawaii. Assuming California wouldnt sink. :P

That would be impossible if you consider how plate tectonics work.

[JohnnyAR]

End of world?

*puts on Kamina glasses*

Bring it on.


But in seriousness I don't think anything like the 2012 movie will happen,  but I do believe the recent earthquakes may have some sort of connection to the Mayan calander.