Japan earthquake factbox: Entire Japan coast shifted 2.4 metres, earth axis moves ten inches

Vancouver Sun ^ | March 11, 2011

[rintense]

Yep!

[Kirkwood]

It makes no sense at all to say an axis shifted in inches. What is the shift in arcseconds?

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Where is Obama; golfing or having another party or OBSESSING with MO about bullies and fat kids?

[Buddygirl]

What does it mean for the earth’s axis to shift 10 inches? Will it mean bad weather or good weather or what?

Does it affect the way we see the moon at night, the shift?

Questions, questions, I got questions!

[Vermont Lt]

My gps unit usually has me driving in the cornfield next to the road anyway. I hope the 10 inch shift will put me back on the street. My wife is getting a little pissed about having to pick the stalks out of the grill.

[dragonblustar]

Entire Japan coast shifted 2.4 metres, earth axis moves ten inches

Damn. That's shocking.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

I remember reading that. Also created more talk on the U.S, madrid fault line.

[bigheadfred]

[Spartan79]

* St Louis, Missouri media outlets report that city has moved an inch as a result of the quake.

Farther to the left, I would imagine.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

St Louis moved an inch due to the quake? Really?

Yeah, I thought the drive to Springfield seemed quicker.

[MARTIAL MONK]

Japan is right where it's always been.

The universe got knocked cattywampus.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

BREAKING NEWS the shift moved Obama to a golf course from his party. < / sarcasm >

[thethirddegree]

Has anyone heard from our FReeper friend Americanin Tokyo?

[unixfox]

The earth rotates like this... It can wobble one way or the other.

[JudgemAll]

Who cares about the Japanese, we got some high pay union jobs to save and death threat thugs to feed in WI. (sarc off)

[ozark hilljilly]

St Louis, Missouri media outlets report that city has moved an inch as a result of the quake.

To the left or right?

[TopQuark]

You’ll have to ask the NGS where it moved to.

You are correct. As stated, those words sound like sensationalist nonsense to me.

[kingu]

The SuperMoon guy still hasn’t posted on his website or Twitter about the current event. Seems odd as he was predicting something like this could happen. It is a couple of days outside his time frame. One was March 1-7

March 1-7 would be a new moon, whereas we're just about at the first quarter moon. The two times the moon (if we're using the theory that the moon would affect earthquakes) would be at the strongest influence would be during the new and full moons when the moon is in alignment with the sun.

This road has been trod so many times, but hey, if someone wants to recreate it once again, have at it. Earthquake researchers, outside the immediate aftermath of a large earthquake sequence, are some of the most friendly people I've ever come across when it comes to sharing data.

[TopQuark]

I understand that part. The words “shifted X inches” suggest a parallel displacement. If so, where? Does not make sense to me; or, at least, I cannot make sense of this news.

[LonePalm]

Earth's axis has reportedly shifted ten inches as a result of the quake, and Japan's coast is said to have permanently shifted 2.4 metres.

There is not enough information here.
How much mass moved in what direction relative to the center of the earth?

The spinning earth is like a gyroscope. Depending on which direction the mass moved, the axis of rotation can precess. It can slow down or speed up the normal precession.

The Chilean earthquake (2/28/2010) was estimated to have moved Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet). This is accounts for the uneven distribution of mass on the surface of the earth.

A milliarcsecond is 1/3,600,000 of a degree. This is not a big deal.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)