Posted on 02/23/2013 1:31:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv
New analysis shows that the Chandler Wobble in Earths axis changed phase by 180 degrees in 2005. The question is why.
If you travel to the Arctic and attempt to find the axis of Earths rotation, youll notice something odd. The position of this axis on Earths surface moves with a period of about seven years. This is the combined result of two effects. The one were interested today is called the Chandler Wobble, which has a period of 433 days and was discovered by American astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler in 1891.
The Chandler Wobble is reasonably well understood. Any spinning sphere that it is not entirely spherical should wobble in this way. However, on Earth, the wobble varies in amplitude from decade to decade, a motion that is thought to be the result of the changes in pressure at the bottom of the oceans caused by fluctuations in salinity, temperature, and ocean circulation.
But there is also something mysterious about the Chandler Wobble. In 1920, it underwent a sudden phase change of 180 degrees. Nobody knows why.
Now a new analysis of data on Earths rotation going back 160 years indicates that this event was not unique. Zinovy Malkin and Natalia Miller at the Russian Academy of Sciences Central Astronomical Observatory in Pulkovo say the phase has changed by small amounts on many occasions during this time. But the big news is that the wobble underwent 180-degree changes in phase on two other occasions: once in 1850 and the other in 2005.
So why should the Chandler Wobble undergo these changes in phase? An interesting puzzle for anybody with a few brain cycles to spare.
(Excerpt) Read more at technologyreview.com ...
Looking at it on my phone and when I look straight on at her she spins from right to left. When I change my phone angle to about 75 degrees she started spinning left to right. Hmmmm...
I wonder what that means?
I'm sure the Bush's are involved somehow...
It’s always the fault of the Republicans ... Gov. Christie?
Interesting, thanks for posting,
Reminds me of the following and makes me wonder if some future Earthquake(s), or similar natural seismic event/upheaval is what leads to this:
“Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.” Isaiah 24:1
“the earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” Isaiah 24:19-23
I’m no scientist, but did study the 12 perturbations of Earth’s motion in an astronomy class in college. My gut instinct is that if you take all the perturbations collectively there will be some harmonic relationship that causes this. In other words, all the perturbations have some effect on the others and eventually this harmonic situation maybe could arise from this.
The different forces at work are mostly just the Moon and Sun. The Moon produces 2/3rds of the tides, the Sun the other 1/3rd; the Sun also beams energy at one side of the Earth at a time. The Earth’s motion through space is a bit of a double twist, as its axial tilt changes throughout the annual orbit around the Sun, and the lunar orbit crosses the axis at a different place each day thanks to the month (both synodic and sidereal) not being evenly divisible into the year.
If I look directly at the figure, she is turning clockwise. However if I look away, she is turning counter-clockwise in my peripheral vision.
Geophysicist Discovers Why Earth ‘Wobbles’ [ 2004 ]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1857129/posts
Note: this topic is from 2/23/2013. Now adding to GGG.
Chandler Wobble is seasonal, caused by shifts of mass at the surface (snowfall, thaw) -- imagine if you will the result of a sudden, massive shift of mass from ocean onto land, accumulating as snow and ice...
Interesting book on the subject:
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