Chile Quake Controversy

On Tuesday, NASA research scientists Richard Gross and Benjamin Fong Chao announced that last weekend's devastating earthquake in Chile caused the Earth's axis to shift by eight centimeters, making the planet rotate faster and producing days 1.26 microseconds shorter. The acceleration is permanent.


On Wednesday, top German scientists at the German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam and the German Geophysical Association indicated that the NASA scientists are full of hooey. According to Professor Karl-Heinz Glassmeier:

“I hit my hand on my head as I read that yesterday.

“NASA can only make the headlines with it. A figure of eight centimetres is absolutely unverifiable.”

Heh.

[Add.] Also, according to Professor Rainer Kind from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ):

“It is impossible that there could ever be such a severe earthquake which would observably move the Earth’s axis. That would only be possible through outside influences, for example a meteorite.

The Germans seem quite sure of their assertions.