At magnitude 8.8, the quake was in itself a huge event, yet it has also changed the Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by approximately 3 inches. The consequence of this – in layman’s terms – is that the length of an Earth day has actually been shortened! Of course the figure is not seriously significant, as it is just over a millionth of a second (1.26 microseconds), yet it shows the effect a quake of this sort can have.

Chile quake

To learn more about these changes, and the science behind them, take a look at the press release on Science Daily.

Source:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2010, March 2). Chilean quake may have shortened Earth days. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 9, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/03/100302084522.htm

Much media attention has focused on the enormous magnitude 8.8 quake (if confirmed, the equal seventh largest recorded quake in modern history) which struck Chile on February 27, yet the smaller magnitude 7.0 quake near Japan a few hours beforehand may well be the more deadly, despite having a relative intensity less than 500 times the size of the Chile tremor.

Intute provides a real-time earthquake monitoring service (courtesy of the United States Geological Survey, USGS), and the recent Chile quake and its aftershocks can be viewed here:

Full details of both quakes are available here:
Chile – 8.8 quake – details
Japan – 7.0 quake – details

A wide range of information about earthquakes and other natural disasters (including earthquake monitoring, and event databases) is provided in the Intute World Guide – Natural Hazards section.

The rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to the production of more carbonic acid at the surface of the sea, according to the reaction:

CO2 + H2O -> H2CO3

Projections suggest that should the projected increase in acidity levels not stop within the next few decades, a wide range of sea life may die out due to the increased acidity. Most under threat are microorganisms living in the deep, which depend on stable conditions for survival.

Read more about the effects of acidification at the Ocean Acidification Network website, and explore numerous resources about oceanography on Intute.

The research has emerged from studies carried out in the Canadian north by a team of scientists from 27 nations; far from being a short-term study, the readings and measurement of the changing ice levels were carried out across a time span of some 15 months, from June 2007.

Arctic Ocean

Whilst the loss of summer ice in the Arctic is worrying, the changes are having enormous spin-off effects in the region; a more diverse range of wildlife has been spotted in the Arctic, whilst the arrival of cyclonic winds can futher accelerate the change, by dumping snow and breaking up ice packs.

Discover Intute resources about climate change and read more in the Intute World Guide: Arctic Ocean.

This month’s features include:

Golden Cat
http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/02/golden-cat/
This feature looks at the use of a gold complex in the synthesis of ethylene; this confers significant environmental benefits over the current method of cracking crude oil.

Black Hole
http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/02/black-hole/
The furthest-known black hole was recently observed by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory. The black hole resides in Sculptor, over 6 million light years from Earth.

Black Gold
http://www.intute.ac.uk/hottopics/2010/02/black-gold/
A study of the heavy oil reserves residing in the Orinoco Oil Belt in Eastern Venezuela.

An archive of over 400 hot topics is available on Intute.

As far back as the 15th and 16th centuries, seafarers and mapmakers had begun to understand the likelihood of a great Southern landmass; whilst Aristotle had previously suggested a great continent at the “bottom of the world”, the explorations of Prince Henry the Navigator, Concalves and Magellan began the serious exploration of the Southern seas. Of course, the controversial Piri Reis map of 1513 contained a depiction of an ice-free Antarctica; its astonishing accuracy has produced widespread conspiracy theories and speculation of a much more ancient race of seafarers who explored the continent.

However, the first close approach to Antarctica in modern history came in January 1773, when Captain James Cook became the first Western mariner to cross the Antarctic Circle. He repeated his journey a year later, but it wasn’t until 1820 that the coastline of Antarctica was sighted. The Russian Navy, led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, and the Royal Navy’s Edward Bransfield, both spotted land within 3 days of each other at the end of January that year.

In January 1840, the Wilkes Expedition discovered further parts of Antarctica to the West of the earlier sightings, now known as “Wilkes Land”, whilst in January 1853, Mercator Cooper set foot on East Antarctica. The renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton spent time in January 1907 crossing the Ross Ice Shelf, whilst in January 1912, the most documented and tragic Antarctic expedition, led by Captain Scott, finally reached the South Pole, only to discover that Amundsen had arrived there first!

Intute contains a wealth of resources about Antarctica; as a starting point, why not discover much more about the continent in the Intute World Guide to Antarctica.

Antarctica Outline Map [CIA World Factbook]

Episode 1, to be broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm, focuses on the “deep Earth”, and includes topics such as caves, subterranean tunnels, fault lines, and the roles each have played throughout our history.

BBC preview: Deep Earth

Why not learn more about the following topics in Intute:
Caves | Sinkholes

If that catastrophe wasn’t enough, it was just 8 years later that an even larger disaster befell the exact same region. Following a major earthquake off the north coast of Peru, a landslide caused a wall of rock and ice to devastate the same region in a 120mph blitz. This time round, over 20,000 inhabitants lost their lives, with 98% of the area’s population perishing.

In these times of school closures and traffic issues, it’s a sobering realisation that snow and ice can be truly devastating.

Map of Peru

A range of information and resources about natural disasters, their effects, historical events, and more are covered in the Intute: Natural Hazards pages.

Daniel Garcia-Castellanos from the Research Council of Spain (CSIC) and his colleagues produced a model showing how mountain lakes can be rapidly worn away by erosion, producing so-called “outlet rivers”, which then drain the waters away. Such a model can be tied to a 200 km channel across the Strait of Gibraltar which was carved out by floodwater and then led to the refilling of the Mediterranean.

Previous estimates of the timescale for the formation of the Mediterranean Sea have ranged from hundreds to thousands of years; however, Garcia-Castellanos suggests that this event may have occurred with such rapidity that the sea level was rising at upwards of 10m per day, and the entire process may have taken just 2 years to complete.

Further details of the research findings are available from the following BBC article:

Ancient Mediterranean Flood Mystery Solved

Dust Storm over the Mediterranean (from Intute World Guide)

Real-time earthquake monitoring is provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and their regularly-updated maps are embedded into our service pages. These clickable maps display the latest quakes around the globe; clicking on a region highlights the activity in that area, and each individual quake has a wealth of data viewable.

The screenshot below, taken at 12.30pm today, shows a new quake of magnitude 5.0 centred in Papua, Indonesia (the red square). To view the embedded service, please visit the Intute World Guide: Natural Hazards: Earthquake Monitoring pages.

Spot the latest quake!