Measurements suggest that the earth's axis has shifted and Japan has moved as a result of the earthquake.
Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan shifted Earth on its axis and shortened the length of a day by a hair. ....
...Already, just over 36 hours after the quake, data-crunchers had determined that the temblor's force moved parts of eastern Japan as much as 12 feet closer to North America, scientists said, and that Japan has shifted downward about two feet.
The Earth shifted on its rotation axis by ten centimeters, stated Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The quakes' impact on the axis was much greater than the shift from the 9.1 Indonesian quake in 2004; and second only to the Chilean quake of 1960. The information comes from the INIGV's Antonio Piersanti.
The shift affects the length of time it takes the Earth to make a complete rotation. After the Chilean quake the earth lost a 1.26 microsecond. According to Earth Sciences; Earth's axis is the imaginary line which goes through the north and south poles and around which Earth spins. It is inclined 66.5 degrees from Earth's orbital plane, which means that it is tilted 23.5 degrees from a vertical 90 degrees. Generally, an axis is any imaginary or physical line that prescribes an object's movement. A taut string that goes through the center of a spinning ball would be an example of a physical axis. The string, as the axis, would represent the part of the ball that is not really moving or that is moving the least. An axis also includes the point that is known as the center of gravity.
