Japan earthquake shifts Earth's axis 10 centimetres

Monday, March 14, 2011 

According to the Italian-based National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan on Friday caused the axis of the planet Earth to shift by approximately ten centimetres. Experts believe that "this has [shifted] the axis of rotation of the Earth [further] than the 2004 earthquake in Sumatra."^((fr))

According to La Nación, the impact of the Japanese earthquake caused an energy release one hundred times larger than that of the earthquake which struck Haiti in 2010. Leading the research at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Antonio Piersanti stated that "[o]ur estimate is not derived from direct measurements, which require much more time, but theoretical calculations."^((es))

Richard Gross, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was responsible for discovering the extent to which the Earth's axis had been shifted by the 2010 Chile earthquake. He claimed that there "should be no impact [from] this change in rotation on daily life."^((es))

Gross explained: "Although we have not evaluated the measurements of the Earth's rotation, my calculations indicate that the change in the distribution of land masses caused by the Japanese earthquake may have caused the Earth to rotate a little faster, shortening the length of day about 1.6 microseconds."^((es)) He said that despite the fact that "[t]his change in the position of the axis of rotation will cause the Earth to wobble a bit different[ly] as it rotates,"^((es)) the planet's axis would not alter in space.

Related news

• "Japan facing 'most severe crisis since World War II', says prime minister" — Wikinews, March 13, 2011
• "Death toll rises from Japan quake" — Wikinews, March 13, 2011
• "Explosion at earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant" — Wikinews, March 12, 2011
• "Special report on Japanese tsunami emergency in Pichilemu, Chile" — Wikinews, March 12, 2011
• "Earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant triggers evacuation" — Wikinews, March 11, 2011
• "8.9 magnitude earthquake hits Japan, causes tsunami" — Wikinews, March 11, 2011
• "NASA scientist: Chile earthquake may have shifted Earth's axis, shortened day" — Wikinews, March 2, 2010

Sources

• A. Sebastian Rivers. "Hasta el eje de la Tierra se movió" — La Nación (Argentina), March 12, 2011 (Spanish)
• "Séisme au Japon: l'axe de la Terre a dévié de 10 cm (sismologues)" — RIA Novosti, March 11, 2011 (French)