Tidal Quake: South Asian Tsunami likely caused by unique
tidal forces
by Guy Cramer
One of the largest earthquake of
recorded history occurred Dec. 26, 2004 00:59 GMT just off of Indonesia, causing
a rift 700 miles long on the ocean floor resulting in a series of Tsunami's
(Tidal Waves) which devastated shorelines of surrounding countries killing well
over 100,000.
Was this a random event or was
there a trigger for the massive earthquake?
The time around Dec 26th, 2004 had a series of known
astronomical events take place. On Dec 21st the Winter Solstice (Longest day of
the year in the southern hemisphere). On January 2, 2005 the Earth is closest to
the sun in the yearly orbit (3 million miles closer than on July 2nd). The Full
Moon was on Dec 26th and the moon was at apogee (farthest point in the lunar
orbit from Earth). The High tide for Dec 26, 2004 in Sumatra, Indonesia took
place at 7:48 AM local time, the Earthquake took place at 11 minutes later at
7:59 AM Local time (00:59 GMT).
These combined events meant that the Suns tidal effect was
increased more than any other time of the year. The actual tidal influence of
the Sun is 44% of that of the Moon as it's distance is that much farther away
than the moon.
Winter Solstice: Dec. 21, 2004
12:42 GMT / UT
Lunar Apogee (farthest point of orbit to earth) Dec 27th 1:48 PM EST 2004
December 27 19:16 Moon’s tidal effects can be up to 18% less than those at the
average distance.
Full Moon 2004 December 26 15:07 The combined tidal effect of the Sun and
the Moon is approximately 12% stronger
Earth Perihelion (Closest point of Earth's orbit to Sun) Dec 27th 1:48 PM EST
2005 January 2 00:37 Tidal effect for of Sun increased by some 5%.
When the Sun, Earth and the Moon all lie
along a straight line, as at new and full Moon, the Sun’s and the Moon’s tidal
forces pull in the same direction and cause high tides to be higher than
average, and low tides to be lower than average. Parts of continent may rise and
fall as much as 0.40m (16 inches) when the Moon passes overhead.
So while the Moon has a greater influence on
tidal forces, the time around 00:59 AM GMT on Dec. 26th, 2004 the Sun had a
higher percentage tidal influence than under normal circumstances. This tug of
war on our tides between the Sun and the Moon was stronger between the two at
this point and may have contributed to the extra stress to trigger the large
quake.
Tides and Seimic Activity
Fergus Wood, Phd., a former Research Associate at National Ocean Survey
(and later NOAA), and the author of "THE STRATEGIC
ROLE OF PERIGEAN SPRING TIDES IN NAUTICAL HISTORY AND NORTH AMERICAN COASTAL
FLOODING, 1635-1976", published by NOAA in 1978, sent a copy of
his book to the U.S. Geological Survey with a comment about possible
tide/quake connnection. On pages 201-203, Wood points out that during six
centuries (1635-1976), the greatest tidal force exerted on the Earth by the
Sun and Moon was January 4, 1912. On that date the Earth-Sun distance was at
a minimum (perihelion); the moment of the Full Moon was only 6.5 minutes
away from an extreme minimum perigee.
Only two quakes are listed for California/Nevada during 1912-1913, with
the strongest of these hitting near the California-Nevada border, close to
Bishop (about 5.5M), which occurred on January 4, 1912, the day of the
maximum tidal forces in six centuries. |
Our Ion Ratio Algorithm
www.superforce.com has accurately been predicting global air ion ratios
since Jan 1, 2000, we have seen how this poorly understood relationship effects
people, physically and mentally. What we don't disclose on the site is the
severity of individual days. Eight different factors are placed into the formula
to determine the outcome. One portion of the formula showed Dec, 26th 2004 was
the most positive day by a factor of 4 for the entire 12 months of 2004. While
we had not anticipated a strong cause and effect relationship with ion ratios
and earthquakes, we did know of the potential for the ion ratios to influence
animals before an earthquake.
| One of the
geological experts on earthquake prediction revealed to a stunned group of
geophysicists that his excellent prediction accuracy was due to his method
of tracking the Lost Pet section of the San Francisco newspaper and seeing
how many cats went missing from day to day. When there were sudden increases
in missing cats, an earthquake seemed inevitable, the more cats missing the
larger the earthquake. It has since been discovered that prior to an
earthquake radio signals are emitted from the ground due to the high
ionization caused by the increase in pressure.
This ionization is considered the most promising area of earthquake
prediction research at this time. Animals, however, are more sensitive to these
ion ratio changes than the current instruments are capable of measuring.
Cats hide when there is a danger present and go missing days before an
earthquake.
|
The following graphics show the different astronomical
alignments discussed above:
 |
|
The Lunar Parallax and Solar Parallax
Inequalities
Both the Moon and the Earth revolve in
elliptical orbits and the distances from their centers of attraction vary.
Increased gravitational influences and tide-raising forces are produced when
the Moon is at position of perigee, its closest approach to the Earth (once
each month) or the Earth is at perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun
(once each year). This diagram also shows the possible coincidence of
perigee with perihelion to produce tides of augmented range.
|
Graphic below: The Suns center point on the Earth on Dec 26,
2004 at 00:59 GMT Note the Epicenter is located on the far left corner just
above Indonesia
Graphic below: The Moon's center point on the Earth on Dec 26, 2004 at 00:59 GMT
Note the Epicenter is located just off the picture on the far right corner
Graphic below: Sunlight map on Dec 26, 2004 00:59 GMT Showing the Suns influence
on the southern hemisphere just after the winter solstice.
Tidal Graph below for Air Musi, Sumatra, Indonesia showing
High Tide 11 minutes prior to the Earthquake which occurred at 7:59 WIT (00:59
GMT / UT)
The Moon does not travel on our ecliptic
plane (the plane in which the Earth's orbit around the Sun lies) or we would
have a lunar eclipse and solar eclipse each month. The Moon's orbit is inclined
5.145396° with regard to the ecliptic so as seen from the centre of the Earth,
the Moon drifts up and down slightly more than five degrees in the course of
each orbit. This means that the moon will have stronger and weaker effects which
differ depending on the point of the inclination.
Graphic below: The Moon's center point on the Earth on Dec 25, 2004 at 16:59 GMT
(8 hours prior to the earthquake) Note the geographic center of the picture is
slightly above the epicenter. This is due to the place of the Moon on the
inclination meaning the moon might have had a larger influence on this region 8
hours prior to the earthquake.
In conclusion: The human and financial
cost of the Southern Asia Tsunami of 2004 should warrant further study by the
NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey to review the work of experts in this field
such as Fergus Wood and James O. Berkland where predictable Tidal Forces are
seriously considered by geophysicists and geologists as a cause and effect of
tectonic shifts as a means for accurate earthquake prediction may actually be
used.
Polarity shifts in Ion Ratios on
increase/decreased pressures of atmospheric tides may also have some effect in
this new area of research.
References:
http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/restles4.html
http://fourmilab.org/earthview/pacalc.html
http://fourmilab.org/images/peri_apo/
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Earth
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moontides/
http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/60.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/26feb_bigmoonshine.htm
http://www.syzygyjob.com/
http://web.newsguy.com/bigbytes/tides/tides.htm
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/kids_space/earth_galore.html&edu=high
http://www.knowth.com/winter-solstice.htm
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tide.html
http://www.jal.cc.il.us/~mikolajsawicki/tides_new2.pdf
http://www.superforce.com/United-Dynamics-FAQ.htm
http://fourmilab.org/earthview/moon_ap_per.html
This material is Copyright © 2005 by Guy Cramer, All Rights Reserved.
This material cannot be reproduced in any form without the expressed written
permission of the Author. Whole Copies may be printed for personal use; no
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