The 8.8 Earthquake in Chile tilted Earth's axis,shorter days

[cycloneye]

I didn't know in what forum I post this but I think in this forum is not a bad place.

Wow,the earth's axis tilted a little.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... AUn4Gy92ss

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.

[serenata09]

So what short term/long term effects does this have on the earth's/U.S. climate?

[cycloneye]

So what short term/long term effects does this have on the earth's/U.S. climate?

I think is too early to know about any impact on the climate.I guess the scientists will make many studies to see what impacts may occur to make more precise conclusions about any implications on the climate.

[somethingfunny]

I heard the same thing happened after the 9.0 Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004. We're talking about tiny microfractions of seconds here...not enough to notice except with the most precise laser instruments. Any effects on the length of our days, orbit, weather...would take many millennia to accumulate enough to be perceptible, at least that's what I think.

[Aslkahuna]

Also had similar results from the 1960 9.5 in Chile and the 9.2 in AK in 1964 though it took longer to discover.

Steve

[x-y-no]

So what short term/long term effects does this have on the earth's/U.S. climate?

Essentially none. While it's interesting that this had ameasurable effect on the axis and on the length of the day, the change is minuscule.

[KWT]

Yeah it would take many thousands of these types of earthquakes to make any real difference, still I suppose over many thousands of years there could be some cumulative change?

[Chacor]

Not really; in one thousand years the earth would only have lost less than three seconds. It would take many thousands of millenia.

[Aslkahuna]

The Earth loses several seconds per Century due to tidal friction from the Moon. That is why we have the occasional "Leap Second" at the end of a year.

Steve

[vbhoutex]

Is there any good explanation why the tsunamis were fortunately much less than expected in most areas except of course closest to the epicenter? I would have expected(not that I know that much about tsunamis) much more than we saw even though I still found the tidal surges in Hawaii amazing. thank goodness we didn't have massive tsunamis all across th ePacific basin.

[Aslkahuna]

They also arrived somewhat later than expected and I suspect that the delay in arrival and the lower heights are related. Also, the uplift may have been less and in the wrong direction compared to 1960 which would have sent the most wave energy into the Chilean coast and less into the open Pacific.

Steve

[Cyclenall]

I heard that exact same thing with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which was 9.2 or 9.3. It's like every earthquake above 8.5 does this to the earth.

Is there any good explanation why the tsunamis were fortunately much less than expected in most areas except of course closest to the epicenter? I would have expected(not that I know that much about tsunamis) much more than we saw even though I still found the tidal surges in Hawaii amazing. thank goodness we didn't have massive tsunamis all across th ePacific basin.

That's because it never happens to begin with. When was the last time you heard of a Pacific wide Tsunami event comparable to the destructiveness of the 2004 Tsunami? The answer is never. I believe it will take something much more different to cause something like that since not even the strongest earthquake ever recorded (May 22, 1960 Chile 9.5 quake) caused catastrophic destruction in dozens of Pacific counties. Yes, it did cause severe damage in a few areas like Hilo Hawaii, parts of California, Japan (Where there were 140 deaths) and possibly a few other areas. When the media was reporting a doomsday tsunami was probably going to happen I thought it probably won't since their predictions sounded far to absurd (40 feet high?). The forecasting of these is not that great since they don't occur very often.