Chilean quake sped up Earth's rotation, tipped planet's axis
Earth spins faster
Courtesy NASA If you read the post about how earthquakes differ, you would know that in the Chile earthquake, a large amount of the Earth's crust plunged under its neighboring crust, bringing it closer to the center of the earth.
Just as Olympic figure skaters spin faster when their arms move closer to their body, the Earth is now spinning faster making our day about 1.26 microseconds shorter than it was before the quake.
Earth was also slightly tipped off balance, like when a spinning skater brings in one arm but not the other. The planet's axis tilted about 8 centimeters. This is insignificant compared to other wobbles measuring several meters resulting from winds and ocean currents.
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Waves
Courtesy skittzitilbyThree unusually large waves crashed into a Mediterranean cruise ship traveling between Barcelona, Spain and Genoa, Italy killing two passengers. Witnesses say the 26-foot waves smashed windows on the front of the ship. By freak wave standards these weren't by any means the largest (see Thor's huge wave post from a few years ago), but they were large enough to do damage. Rogue waves aren't uncommon, and sailing lore often mentions the "Three Sisters", abnormally large waves that come in sets of threes among smaller waves, like these recent ones did. This NOAA webpage attributes these kinds of freakish waves to storms and high winds, but is it possible these abnormal killer waves were generated by the recent earthquake in Chile? Just a thought.
SOURCE
BBC story
While much of the Pacific Rim area was on a tsunami alert this weekend in the wake of the earthquake in Chile, the harbor of Long Beach experienced something much different on Saturday. The harbor had a huge tidal drop occur in just a matter of minutes, grounding many sailboats and yachts and closing the harbor to large sea vessels for a while. Here's a complete video report:
The other amazing thing, nothing anywhere near this drastic happened in any other California harbors the same day.
8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile
Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsA massive earthquake occurred early this morning (1:34 EST) off the west coast of Chile some 70 miles NNE of the city of Concepcion. The powerful 8.8 magnitude tremor released about 500 times the energy generated by the recent 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. At least 78 people are reported killed, a number which will no doubt rise as information trickles in. Tsunami warnings have been raised across the entire Pacific Basin, including in Hawaii, Australia, and Japan.
Earthquakes are frequent in this area of Chile because it sets on a subduction zone where the Nazca Plate is pushing beneath the South American Plate. The region is also the location of the most powerful earthquake ever recorded on Earth, a 9.5 tremor that struck in 1960.
USGS earthquake center
Richter magnitude scale
More on the May 22, 1960 Earthquake
Plate tectonics
Chicago from the old Sears Tower: Probably not where you want to be during an earthquake.
Courtesy Mark RyanThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reported a 3.8 magnitude earthquake, centered in northern Illinois about 40 miles WNW of Chicago. The tremor, which occurred today around 4AM local time, was felt in Wisconsin, and Indiana, and as far away as Michigan.
Strong magnitude 6.1 aftershock hits Haiti
Haiti aftershock earthquake
Courtesy American Red Cross
A strong aftershock rocked Haiti on Wednesday morning just as much-needed medical aid was set to reach the earthquake-ravaged nation.
The 6.1-magnitude aftershock was about 6.2 miles deep, with an epicenter about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. CNN
Learn more about Haiti earthquake news
- CNN has a comprehensive page about the Haiti earthquake here.
- For CNN's up to the minute Haiti earthquake developments click here.
Earthquake and hurricane proof
Haiti housing resource
Courtesy jasonpearce Housing for Haitians may already be on hand. Sturdy, earthquake and hurricane proof, shipping containers often sit empty in port yards because exporting empty containers is not cost effective.
Pernille Christensen, at Clemson’s School of Architecture, along with Martha Skinner and Doug Hecker, have been working to develop a method to convert the shipping containers into homes.
“Because of the shipping container’s ‘unibody’ construction they are also very good in seismic zones and exceed structural code in the United States and any country in the world,” associate professor Hecker said.
“You get people back in their communities and it strengthens those communities,” Christensen said. “They work on their home, not a temporary shelter, and then they work with their neighbors to rebuild the neighborhood. It leads to a healthier and safer community. And these are places often in dire need of better housing.”
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Learn more about shipping container housing
- Clemson University media release
- WYFF4 News video
- Project Green Cube (Clemson University)
A strong 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island nation of Haiti today at 21:53 UTC. Several buildings have been reported damaged, and a tsunami alert for the Caribbean region has been issued. The initial death toll is reported in the dozens, but that number is expected to rise as rescue workers dig through the rubble. Here's a report from the Associated Press:
A powerful earthquake (magnitude 7.9) hit near the Pacific island of Samoa this afternoon. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has issued a warning for the Samoa Islands, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, and other Pacific islands as far away as Hawaii.
A powerful earthquake struck a huge swath of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing more than 150 people and making up to 50,000 homeless.
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