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Earth's Gravitational Field Is Getting Flatter

RJG2 writes "MSNBC has an article stating that Earth's gravitational field has changed, becoming stronger towards the equator, thus becoming flatter. The cause has yet to be determined, but it is assumed changes in ocean levels are responsible."

2 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Change In Time? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've been hearing about this on the BBC for the past couple of days. The thought that occurred to me was this: if mass is moving from the poles to the equator, will the rotation of the earth slow, even a tiny amount, but enough that we have to adjust time in a few years?

    I expect so.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Actually its pretty scary... by Evil+Pete · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There appears to be a movement of a huge mass from the poles to the equator over the last 4 years. The article describes how they excluded the obvious culprits: melting ice, earth movements, atmosphere etc. And finally concluded that it is related to ocean circulation. Now that gives me the creeps!

    Why the creeps? Because ocean circulation changes can happen relatively quickly and are implicated in the starting / stopping of ice ages. They are crucial indicators for climate change. And when the ocean circulation changes there is nothing humans can do about it.

    Hopefully it either isn't the oceans or if it is it wont have a serious effect (dont believe my own words here ... but it sounds comforting). Whatever, this requires some serious investigation, just hope they got it wrong.

    --
    Bitter and proud of it.