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Earth's Gravitational Shape In Detail

Posted by timothy on from the explains-my-scale's-malfunction dept.

RobHart writes "The European Space Agency (ESA) has released detailed information about the Earth's gravitational shape, based on data from the ESA's GOCE satellite (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer). The link includes an interesting animation of the data, using an appropriately distorted Earth."

2 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Gravitational hole in the Indian Ocean? by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cool to see how the gravitation patter largely ignores the contours of the continent.

    But, is there a gravitational hole in the Indian Ocean? Could it have been an asteroid? Perhaps leading to the "fast split" of Africa and India?

    Just speculating.

    1. Re:Gravitational hole in the Indian Ocean? by Alef · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nope. Higher gravity attracts more water, so the sea level is higher (compared to the surface of a perfect sphere the size of the Earth).

      Or you can think about it in this way: The sea level forms a surface of equal gravity (otherwise there would be a "slope" somewhere, and the water would move down it). Where there is higher gravity, the sea level needs to be farther from the Earth's center to be on that surface and experience the same gravity.