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[at-l] More Interesting OT



 From <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050112194812.htm>
"NASA scientists using data from the Indonesian earthquake calculated it 
affected Earth's rotation, decreased the length of day, slightly changed 
the planet's shape, and shifted the North Pole by centimeters. The 
earthquake that created the huge tsunami also changed the Earth's rotation. 
Dr. Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., 
and Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, Md., said all earthquakes have some affect on Earth's rotation. 
It's just they are usually barely noticeable. 'Any worldly event that 
involves the movement of mass affects the Earth's rotation, from seasonal 
weather down to driving a car,' Chao said. Gross and Chao have been 
routinely calculating earthquakes' effects in changing the Earth's rotation 
in both length-of- day as well as changes in Earth's gravitational field. 
They also study changes in polar motion that is shifting the North Pole. 
The 'mean North pole' was shifted by about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in the 
direction of 145 degrees East Longitude. This shift east is continuing a 
long-term seismic trend identified in previous studies."