Quake changed earth's shape, rotation

By Seema Hakhu Kachru, in Houston
Rediff
January 11, 2005 09:01 IST

The earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, which spawned
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean region killing over 150,000
people, has slightly changed the earth's shape, shaved
microseconds from the length of the day, and shifted the
North Pole, according to NASA scientists.

"Although all earthquakes leave an impact, the
devastating mega-thrust earthquake registered nine on the
new 'moment' scale (modified Richter scale), making it
the fourth largest quake in one hundred years," Dr
Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre
and Dr Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
said.

Chao and Gross routinely calculate the effects of
earthquakes on earth's shape and rotation. They also
study changes in polar motion, which shows the shifting
of the North Pole.

According to their latest calculations, the December 26
earthquake shifted the earth's "mean North Pole" by about
2.5 centimetres in the direction of 145° East Longitude,
more or less toward Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

This shift is continuing a long-term seismic trend
identified in previous studies.

The quake also affected the earth's shape. Chao and Gross
calculated that Earth's oblateness (flattening on the top
and bulging at the equator) decreased by a small amount
-- about one part in 10 billion.

This continues the trend of earthquakes making the earth
less oblate.

They also found that the earthquake decreased the length
of the day by 2.68 microseconds. (A microsecond is one
millionth of a second.) The earth spins a little faster
than it did before.

This change in spin is related to the change in
oblateness. It is like a spinning skater drawing arms
closer to the body resulting in faster spin, they said.

None of these changes have yet been measured -- only
calculated. But Chao and Gross hope to detect the changes
when the earth rotation data from ground-based and space-
borne sensors are reviewed.

More at:
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/11tsunami.htm

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