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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- | |||
| Will March 19 'Supermoon' Trigger Natural Disasters? | |||
| 2011-03-11 | |||
| Run! Run for YOUR FRIGGIN LIVES!!! On March 19, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full. And one astrologer
Geez, like it did...eighteen years ago?
Better pay attention. He's not just an astrologer, he's a "noted" astrologer... When the moon goes super-extreme, Nolle says, chaos will ensue: Huge storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters can be expected to wreak havoc on Earth. Pestilence. He left out pestilence. And famine. (It should be noted that astrology is not a real science, but merely makes connections between astronomical and mystical events.) Hmmmmmmmm? Does Al Gore know about this? But do we really need to start stocking survival shelters in preparation for the supermoon? Coming up next: Supermoon To Ravage Earth; Women, Minorities Hardest Hit... The question is not actually so crazy. In fact scientists have studied related scenarios for decades. Even under normal conditions, the moon is close enough to Earth to make its weighty presence felt: It causes the ebb and flow of the ocean tides. The moon's gravity can even cause small but measurable ebbs and flows in the continents, called "land tides" or "solid Earth tides," too. The tides are greatest during full and new moons, when the sun and moon are aligned either on the same or opposite sides of the Earth. Wow. So you're saying this only happens, like, 24 times a year? And yet, I'm not dead... According to John Vidale, a seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, particularly dramatic land and ocean tides do trigger earthquakes. "Both the moon and sun do stress the Earth a tiny bit, and when we look hard we can see a very small increase in tectonic activity when they're aligned," Vidale told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com. Or not. I'll need a lot more grant money to know for sure... At times of full and new moons, "you see a less-than-1-percent increase in earthquake activity, and a slightly higher response in volcanoes." Well, there ya go. Supermoon science is settled. I say we spend billions for green jobs and high speed rail.
But we're not astrologers, so what do we know? What about during a lunar perigee? Can we expect more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on March 19, when the full moon will be so close? It depends. I'll have to call Halliburton and see what's on the schedule... The moon's gravitational pull at lunar perigee, the scientists say, is not different enough from its pull at other times to significantly change the height of the tides and thus the likelihood of natural disasters. "A lot of studies have been done on this kind of thing by USGS scientists and others," John Bellini, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Life's Little Mysteries. "They haven't found anything significant at all." Vidale concurred. "Practically speaking, you'll never see any effect of lunar perigee," he said. "It's somewhere between 'It has no effect' and 'It's so small you don't see any effect.'" Lemme guess, that noted astrologer dude sent you over, right? The bottom line is, the upcoming supermoon won't cause a preponderance of earthquakes, although the idea isn't a crazy one. Actually, it sounds like it is... "Earthquakes don't respond as much to the tides as you'd think they would. There should actually be more of an effect," said Vidale. Yeah, that's a stumper. Add that to the grant proposal, Johnson. Most natural disasters have nothing to do with the moon at all. The Earth has a lot of pent up energy, and it releases it anytime the buildup gets too great. The supermoon probably won't push it past the tipping point, but we'll know for sure, one way or the other, by March 20. Yeah, I'll either be dead or will have completely forgotten this story... | |||
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #12 Iff the 1990's-2005 NET is any measure, I suspect we will still be getting PCorrect-Deniable, "Cannot confirm or Deny", official "NO COMMENT" from NASA-JPL, ETC. whether APOPHIS slams into the Moon or not. D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, DIDN'T THE COLD WAR TEACH YOU ANYTHING, ALWAYS "TRUST THE RUSSIANS/SOVIETS" - NOT OUR OWN US GOVT. - WHEN IT COMES TO INCOMING SPACE ROCKS + INVADING SPACE BUGS! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-11 22:58 |
| #11 DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [USGS Geophysicist John Bellini] "SUPERMOON" DID NOT CAUSE [Sendai = East Japan]JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE + TSUNAMI. LUNAR PERIGEE = "MOONAGEDDON" not supposed to occur 03/19th, not 03/11th. HMMMMM, HMMMMM, so-o-o IOW, COMET APOHIS 2029/30-2036, + other Russian-discovered Space Rocks, is still in the running for the RACE TOWARDS MOONAGEDDON. We missed our QUANTUM + SPACE CALCULUS OWG-STANDARDIZED MATH EXAMS back in 2024, didn't we??? Or twas it 2027 - don't remember anything after CANCUN SPRING BREAK ??? ["STARSHIP TROOPERS" CHARLIZE "CHILI" THERON here]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-11 22:50 |
| #10 It's interesting that the more scientific proponents of this theory note that these earthquakes don't happen when the Moon is closest to Earth, but in a window of several days on either side of that time. However, if you take that complete time frame, as a week or more, and apply it across any group of days in a year, you will probably start to note an imaginary correlation. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-03-11 20:06 |
| #9 ABC jumps on the bandwagon. Hey, *I* was gonna make that joke. But I decided it was both stupid and in poor taste. But then I'm not a journalist, praise $DEITY. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2011-03-11 15:46 |
| #8 ABC jumps on the bandwagon. Did 'Supermoon' Cause 8.9 Earthquake in Japan? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-03-11 14:51 |
| #7 BoobQuake! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-03-11 13:37 |
| #6 I thought some Iranian imam said such phenomena were caused by boobs? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-03-11 13:04 |
| #5 It is because of AGW. Sinners ;) |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-03-11 11:20 |
| #4 I'm soooo glad I didn't plan on retiring. Now I don't have to live out my golden years working as a greeter at Wal-Mart. /sarc |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-03-11 09:30 |
| #3 Of course it will, g(r)om, everything increases AGW. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-03-11 06:04 |
| #2 Will increase AGW? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-03-11 04:10 |
| #1 Most natural disasters have nothing to do with the moon at all. Except for that very first ooops. Well alleged ooops. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-03-11 03:22 |