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Earth's Chandler Wobble Changed Dramatically in 2005
Technology Review ^ | August 31, 2009 | Physics arXiv Blog

Posted on 02/23/2013 1:31:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv

New analysis shows that the Chandler Wobble in Earth’s 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 Earth’s rotation, you’ll notice something odd. The position of this axis on Earth’s surface moves with a period of about seven years. This is the combined result of two effects. The one we’re 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 Earth’s 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 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; chandlerswobble; chandlerwobble; earthquake; godsgravesglyphs; poleshift
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To: Chode

It spins left for me unless I change it. I am left handed. which means I am (for the moment) in my right mind. Lefties of the world UNITE! Left is right!

And did you know? Everyone is born right-handed.

Only the greatest can overcome it.

Interestingly, if I do something like typing, and “think” about what I am typing, while sorta half looking at the girl she swings her leg back and forth. So now I’m a wondering if I can get her to STOP.


41 posted on 02/23/2013 3:11:44 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: beebuster2000
Ah yes....

That was back when I had more hair.

42 posted on 02/23/2013 3:13:37 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: bigheadfred

Clockwise


43 posted on 02/23/2013 3:15:34 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: bigheadfred
no...
44 posted on 02/23/2013 3:18:36 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: bigheadfred
yeah, i've seen her stutter back and forth also
45 posted on 02/23/2013 3:21:01 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: BenLurkin

You are all right after all.


46 posted on 02/23/2013 3:28:18 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: SatinDoll

•Earth Is Undergoing True Polar Wander, Scientists Say
•Scafetta’s new paper attempts to link climate cycles to planetary motion ( March 2012)
•Wind can keep mountains from growing
•Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms
•Magnetic polar shifts causing massive global superstorms
•Cosmic Impact Site That Created Earth’s Axial Tilt and Fault Lines
•Sun, moon trigger San Andreas tremors: study
•North By Northwest
•Geophysicist Discovers Why Earth ‘Wobbles’ [ 2004 ]
•In Climate Controversy, Industry Cedes Ground
•The ‘wobble’ that wipes out life on Earth every 2.5m years
•Global Warming Needs New Look at Mechanisms Involved
•Rhythmic Submarine Volcanos And El Niños
•Chandler’s Wobble Causes Earthquakes, Volcanism, El Nino, and Global Warming

For true links, go to SunkenCiv


47 posted on 02/23/2013 3:30:20 PM PST by SatinDoll (NATURAL BORN CITZEN: BORN IN THE USA OF CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: SunkenCiv
> a motion that is thought to be the result of the changes in pressure at the bottom of the oceans caused by

Cthulhu stirring uneasily in his sleep in R'lyeh.

48 posted on 02/23/2013 3:55:27 PM PST by Flatus I. Maximus (Fight Third-World Despotism. Overthrow Obama.)
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To: SunkenCiv

What a great Art Bell show this would’ve been. Fascinating subject.


49 posted on 02/23/2013 4:04:44 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: BenLurkin

Have you ever done a polar alignment to better than 0.7 arcseconds? That’s about the diffraction limit of a 10” telescope.


50 posted on 02/23/2013 4:08:23 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (What word begins with "O" and ends in economic collapse?)
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To: SunkenCiv

51 posted on 02/23/2013 4:08:23 PM PST by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: Flatus I. Maximus
LOL...
52 posted on 02/23/2013 4:08:43 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: BenLurkin

Means you need to dump the goto and get a dob without setting circles!

I still use a Newt with a equatorial mount. And sometimes the clockdrive works!


53 posted on 02/23/2013 4:11:00 PM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: SunkenCiv

Good book on the topic:

http://www.amazon.com/Latitude-American-Astronomers-Mystery-Variation/dp/1557500169/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


54 posted on 02/23/2013 4:17:04 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (What word begins with "O" and ends in economic collapse?)
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To: SunkenCiv

Good book on the topic:

http://www.amazon.com/Latitude-American-Astronomers-Mystery-Variation/dp/1557500169/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


55 posted on 02/23/2013 4:17:04 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (What word begins with "O" and ends in economic collapse?)
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To: SunkenCiv
If you travel to the Arctic and attempt to find the axis of Earth’s rotation, you’ll notice something odd.

Maybe the first odd thing you would notice is that it's not so easy to know when you are at the exact north or south pole, even if the axis is not moving.

56 posted on 02/23/2013 4:20:32 PM PST by wideminded
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To: proud American in Canada; Mad Dawgg

great minds...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2990573/posts?page=8#8


57 posted on 02/23/2013 4:51:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

Thanks LiM!


58 posted on 02/23/2013 4:53:00 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: Vaquero; Nowhere Man

Not enough.


59 posted on 02/23/2013 4:53:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: SunkenCiv

60 posted on 02/23/2013 5:02:30 PM PST by outofsalt ("If History teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything")
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