Das chilenische Erdbeben ist an den kürzeren Tagen schuld

Die Nasa schreibt’s also stimmt’s. Wie schon bei vergangenen Erdbeben hat sich auch diesmal die Erdachse verschoben und die Tage sind kürzer geworden.

Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis. Gross calculates the quake should 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).

Faszinierend.