Tsunami Sped Up Earth's Rotation
Tsunami sped up Earth's rotation:
[Technology India]: Washington, Dec 31: Geophysicists Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have revealed that the devastating earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on 26 December has accelerated the Earth's rotation.
According to Nature, they estimate that the shockwave shortened the period of our planet's rotation by some three microseconds. This change was caused by a shift of mass towards the planet's centre, as the Indian Ocean's heavy tectonic plate lurched underneath Indonesia's one that caused the globe to rotate faster.
The researchers led by Richard Gross found that the blast literally rocked the world on its axis and the Earth now tilts by an extra 2.5 centimetres in the wake of the jolt.
Overall, the Earth's rotation tends to slow down as the Moon's gravity pulls on its seas and continents, causing bulges that give the opposite effect of Sunday's compacting quake.
Because of this trend, physicists have slipped in 22 separate 'leap seconds' since 1972, each one delaying UTC until the Earth's rotation catches up. They are inserted either as an extra final second on 31 December, or at the very end of June. (ANI0
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[Technology India]: Washington, Dec 31: Geophysicists Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have revealed that the devastating earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on 26 December has accelerated the Earth's rotation.
According to Nature, they estimate that the shockwave shortened the period of our planet's rotation by some three microseconds. This change was caused by a shift of mass towards the planet's centre, as the Indian Ocean's heavy tectonic plate lurched underneath Indonesia's one that caused the globe to rotate faster.
The researchers led by Richard Gross found that the blast literally rocked the world on its axis and the Earth now tilts by an extra 2.5 centimetres in the wake of the jolt.
Overall, the Earth's rotation tends to slow down as the Moon's gravity pulls on its seas and continents, causing bulges that give the opposite effect of Sunday's compacting quake.
Because of this trend, physicists have slipped in 22 separate 'leap seconds' since 1972, each one delaying UTC until the Earth's rotation catches up. They are inserted either as an extra final second on 31 December, or at the very end of June. (ANI0
Article Here