Tsunami: GPS now off by 8 feet

Next time in Japan, I'll keep it it in mind. Commercial GPS isn't any more accurate than 8 ft. anyway. Of much more concern is the affect the earthquake had on roadways and general access to wide areas of Japan.

Looks like an Asian update will be in order.

That since commercial GPS isn't accurate more than 8 ft.; since everything has shifted by 8 ft., maybe the GPS is right on. (Not to make light of a serious situation that they are facing in Japan right now.)

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is a terrible tragedy. However it points out a difference in perspective regarding the impact of such events on developed and undeveloped nations.

When the same thing occurred off the coast of Indonesia at Christmas in 2004, more than 200,000 people died. But the economic impact was pretty well limited to the specific area affected. The death toll in Japan will be significantly less but the economic impact will be in the trillions of dollars. And the whole world is holdings it breath because of the possible impact on nuclear power generating sites!

Of course, this observation doesn't have anything to do with GPS... but it does make you think.

Very observant, DanielT. Thank you.

In all the events and news about what is happening, deep down in the mind the knowledge the earth moved is there but the article makes it clear its really physical.

Wow, really. And you believe this? It may have been a major earthquake but the entire "Island of Japan" did not move 8 feet. It reports a single station has moved that much. That doesn't mean the entire island has moved in relation to the GPS system.

It will be interesting to see if they bother to print any corrections or clarifications to this nonsensical story.

For Tokyo and some parts of Japan, it might have to be a NEW map.

+1

I would be leery about following GPS route instructions to roads that may no longer exist.

The way I read the below statement, the entire land mass did move 8 feet:
"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

I think latitude/longitude data for POI in Japan may be off now.

Both the NZ and the Japan earthquakes are devastating to life and property and my prayers go out to the victims in both countries. If anybody knows unemployed land surveyors, when the cleanup begins all the Benchmarks and survey marks in the affected areas of both NZ and Japan will all need to be resurveyed and re-leveled it is a big undertaking.

8ft is huge and the damage is even more. Wow. bless them.

The anti-nuclear luddites are having a field day with this disaster. Even the local TV stations in Illinois are sensationalizing this as "can it happen here" with the 10 nuclear sites in the state. Of course they fail to associate the tsunami wave with the destruction of the backup systems and the distance Illinois is from an ocean. In the mean time there are thousands of coal and other fossil burning plants spewing carcinogens, disrupting the ozone protective layer and dropping mercury and other evils into the waterways, contaminating the crops, fish and drinking water.

Solar (wind & voltaic) are becoming less expensive than nuclear. Wind takes a lot of land. Both voltaic and wind are reliant on weather conditions. But base-load generation by nuclear is still the least harmful of the 24x7 generation methods.

FWIW - Japan is an archipelago of islands, not a single island.

It's actually 6.5", I read. This will bring even more climate changes.

Wow -this floors me. 6.5 or 8 feet, normally large earthquakes move land inches, not feet!

The Chilean earthquake in 2010 moved Concepción 10 feet to the west.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake

We had better be praying that they are able to keep the nuclear plants from a meltdown, because it is possible that the fallout can reach as far as the western coast of the USA.
Lord we pray for your hand of mercy and grace for the people of Japan. Amen

Could a quake under Lake Michigan push a tsunami onto Illinois?

Don't mess with Mother Nature!

Interesting.

But I'm sure it's the least of our worries.

I don't mean to sound sarcastic. Just that I'm still trying to track down a few people I know over there.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/14/th...

I don't think that it'll crack up anytime soon. I was in an earthquake in Beardstown, IL in the late 80's. I was inside a concrete prestressed building and it sounded like a train running over the building. So I suppose it's possible.

the new madrid fault is near Illinois, it's one of the major fault lines, haven't had a major quake there for quite a while, but when it goes it will be a big one. The last time it happened the Mississippi River was said to have flowed backward.

This could have been the USA

By definition tsunamis are ocean waves caused by large earthquakes or other large disturbances that occur in the ocean.

So tsunamis would not occur in a lake. Lakes do not have the large depths that is required to form the very large wavelength and energy content of a tsunami.

However seiches from earthquakes, landslides or wind can be formed. Seiches from winds occur in Lake Michigan on practically a daily basis. Due to the moderate depths of Lake Michigan, the waves would not be as severe as experienced from ocean tsunamis.

I wish they'd make up their minds. I heard, on Fox News, that Japan had been pushed 13 feet closer to the USA and that the earth had tilted 6 inches. I wonder who's measuring all this.

Garmin!

If you measure tilt of the Sun throughout the year exactly at 12 noon - local time - when the Sun is exactly equidistant to the horizons and compare these results you will get the tilt of the earth's axis with respect to the Sun.

I guess someone kept last year's readings !

Scientists at NASA, JPL, etc. What gets lost in the news reports is how miniscule these changes are in comparison to the rest of the unfolding of the Universe. (Look up Axial precession for example.)

The changes due to earthquakes are a matter of interest but not of concern.

I guess that would depend on where you are. I'll bet the Japanese people can't share your philosophical state right now... But I get what you mean.

The changes I was referring to as being of no concern are the slight changes in the position of the earth's Figure Axis due to earthquakes. That was just one of the effects of the earthquake.
The changes in peoples lives caused by the tsunami (another effect of the earthquake) are, of course, something to be very concerned about.

No need. It's technically impossible for there to be any significant amount of fallout (as in anything that do any harm) to reach US shores if those reactors did go all Chernobyl.

And if you, or anyone else did see that "fallout spread" picture, its just something someone drew up to spread fear, as it cannot happen because of the size of the reactors.

wow

From what I learned at the museum in New Madrid, Missouri, that area would be a nasty place to have an earthquake. Due to the composition of the soil in that area there wouldn't be cracks in the earth, the whole area would just turn into a gigantic patch of quicksand and everything would just sink.

If I don't care about the various directions I could see in this topic, of course. I only have thoughts for them poor people out there. And maybe I'll care for the financial impact - but I swear I only care for the human beings that were in that place.

I saw a prayer a few responses back. I'm not much of a prayer or believer myself, but I'll toss in my thoughts as well.

And Spera has absolutely no sarcasm to throw in the melee, this time.

Bless you all

I'm quite positive that new numbers show it moving 12-13 feet.

Until tomorrow...

What is your source of this conflicting information please?

A quick Google search about "japan moved" threw a lot of the 8 feet results, but found one of the "conflicting" reports here http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/?p=677
They claim 4 meters, which is roughly 12~13 feet.