JPL: Japan quake may have shortened Earth days minutely.

Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has calculated that the Japan earthquake has shortened earth days, and moved its axis. It's not something to worry about, as it is in the microseconds scale. Both the Chile and Sumatran earthquakes would have a similar effect, and there is an annual variation as well. More reading here,


www.jpl.nasa.gov...

In theory then, anything that redistributes Earth’s mass will change Earth’s rotation, even large water dams and movements of water. This 2003 NASA paper gives a good explanation through meteorology and astronomical data. I like the washing machine analogy,

www.nasa.gov...

It would be interesting just how much happening at once would, or could ever make a big difference.

eh i didn't make a difference just a tiny change.

reply to post by alex1
It's more to do with helping us understand just how dynamic earth's systems are and how these are relative to our existence.