Hi guys im new to this board and I dont know alot about Astronomy however I do know this. Earths axes shifted 2.5 degress when that tsunami struck india. Ever since then its got very cold here in canada and has started snowing none stop, are we drifting into outter space? Also places in the usa that dont normally get snow are getting it, my brother on the coast here in canada usually dosnt get snow either and they have it now too since the disaster, are we all icecubes soon? please dont laugh at my post as I really dont know alot about the universe and or whats going on with it.

Welcome to BABB, EX.

When you say you now nothing, how do you know that the earth's axis shifted 2.5 degrees?
BTW, there was no shift. Even the laziest amateur astronomer would have recoginzed a shift of 2.5° within minutes. Not to mention all these people who use GPS devices and would suddenly recognize that they are in the wrong place...

Harald

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I seen it on cnn they said it was only temporary though however here in canada in our papers they said it only moved 1inch off its axes, and that we would have to add one second to each leep year ( I think there would be more problems then that) however yea it did shift, I seen it on two diffrent new's sources. Obv if somthing really bad was going to happen the gov wouldnt tell us about it as there would be riot's in the streets but yea ive seen it in the news twice.

Of course, the axis is always shifting around a little bit, due to changes in mass distribution on earth's surface. But this is of magnitudes as the one inch you mentioned, while 2.5° would mean some 170 miles.

Harald

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here is a post i just found on this site that mentions the shifting of the axes aswell.

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...;highlight=ufo

The axis has shifted (if that's the correct term), but not by 2.5 degrees, not by far. It was a very minute shift, more like 2.5 inches. And an axis shift doesn't make us drift into outer or inner space at all, you can perfectly stay on course around the sun with a 90 degree axis shift as well.
If the climate had changed because of such an axis shift, it would happen everywhere, not just in Canada and the US. But I can assure you that there's nothing extraordinary happening in Europe for the moment, and I haven't heard reports about it from elsewhere either.
Plus, as had been said, a 2.5 degree shift would be visible to every amateur astronomer, and they wouldn't all keep quiet about it.

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thanks for the info guys I was sorta woried (still am) however yes you have some very vaild points there. I suppose time will really tell, once again thank you for the info I had no idea who to ask. I had been searcing the web and ran into this fourm which is quite a gold mine for info like this I can see.

Hi, EX, welcome.

No, thankfully that's not the case -- I'm not sure where you heard that, but it's a significant exaggeration, about 1000 times the estimated amount. In any case, any effect on the Earth resulting from the earthquake and ensuing tsunami has been vastly sensationalized in the news media and on the Internet. Events like this have happened many times in the past, but do not pose any grave threat to the planet. This page explains it pretty well -- and bear in mind:

No.

No, as already noted, this event will not alter Earth's weather. While it's a terrible disaster in the regions affected, and resulted in tremendous loss of life, Earth is simply too massive for this to have affected it in any but the most miniscule, barely measurable way. It's also important to remember that weather is quite dynamic, and simply because some areas that have snow now but usually don't is not indicative of the earthquake/tsunami causing them. There is no connection between earthquakes and weather.

That's quite alright, EX, it's good that you came to a resource like this to get some answers.

There's really no need for concern. As an example, you can see from this list of past tsunamis, this isn't anything new. Even these events in the past didn't prevent us from being here.

Also, those that occurred just in the last century have given scientists a great deal of data to work with, so by no means are we entering uncharted territory.

Not to overstate what should be pretty obvious, but winter just started. In Canada, winter means cold and snow. These are perfectly ordinary occurrances in a Canadian winter.

We've actually been having unseasonably dry, cold weather the last ten years or so. The weather we're seeing this year (frequent snowfall) is a lot closer to what we had in the 80s, and started in early November, about two months before the 'quake. It's a snow year. We get those.

Let me ask you this: did you feel the earthquake that caused the Tsunami? Anything at all? Because if Earth's axis shifted 2.5 degrees, you'll have suddenly moved north or south about 300 kilometers.

I think you would have noticed something like that.

In any case, Fram is right. Even if such a shift was gradual enough for the opposite side of the world to fail to feel it happening, it would be plainly obvious to astronomers (both professional and amateur) as well as anybody who relies on GPS for navigation.

If there was a shift, we're talking an inch or two at the most. That's not a big deal.

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Didn't see this earlier, or would have included it in my initial reply:

Problems? Like what?

Where timekeeping is concerned, This article describes the situation rather well:


Simply because it's on the news doesn't always make it correct.
Where science coverage is concerned, the media makes regular mistakes, and there have been many such discussions here in the past. It's really unfortunate, since such instances misinform rather than educate the public.

This seems to be a recurring misconception. If this were the case, we woudn't have a number of governmental agencies striving to keep the public informed about hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, asteroids, etc. The amount of public information existing spanning these and a number of issues is quite indepth, and readily available to anyone interested. There's simply no evidence that the government would deliberately conceal significant things from the public, and doing so would actually contradict what's in their best interests (an informed, prepared populace).

The axis is estimated to have shifted 2.5 centimeters. This is an infinitesimal amount and has no effect on anything. I calculated the amount in degrees on a different thread, it is about 0.0025 arc second. That is 0.0000006 degrees.

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Umm... I hope this doesn't come out wrong, but how in the bloody blue abyss can you speak for a whole country? I assure you, from the 2, 5, and 10 degree days we've had here, and the green grass that's been more evident than the ice and snow, it has not been cold and snowing non-stop since the tsunami.

There are a couple of things to learn here: 1) Don't trust any science based news from CNN, 2) sudden, major changes to the Earth are called cataclysims, and for good reason, 3) winter is cold, and weather dynamic.

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It means it will take 2.5 degrees more flexibility in order to get your funk on.

George Clinton can show us the way.

Oh boy did I ever forget a conversion above... #-o

The amount of axis shift caused by the quake is much less than the natural shift of the axis that occurs naturally every year.

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Yes, I had forgotten if it was inches or centimetres, and of course I chose the wrong one But at least I got my numbers correct #-o

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Not out here on the left coast, where we see snow about twice every three years, and even then it's 1cm or so and is gone the next day.

However, as I type this, it is absolutely dumping outside. We're at about 8cm and gaining fast, with forecasts in the negative teens for next week (normal is just above zero). So yeah, it's colder than average.

I'm not saying the earth is spinning into space or anything, but just that the weather, to some, could appear to be significantly colder than normal.

That's south-coastal BC, not Canada. You all don't count. And anyway, didn't you guys separate like ten years ago? :wink:

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