Aug 2 2002
From The Space Library
NASA scientists published research challenging prominent theories about the growth of the gravitational field at Earth's equator, a phenomenon that began in 1998. Researchers had suggested that atmospheric change, or the melting of glaciers and polar ice, had caused a geographic shift in the planet's gravitational field, with a decline in upper latitudes and a corresponding increase in lower latitudes. However, NASA scientists Christopher M. Cox and Benjamin F. Chao discovered that the quantity, rate, and timing of atmospheric change and ice melt did not correspond to the magnitude and rate of gravitational shift. Based on their analysis of data that 10 satellites had acquired between 1979 and 2002, Cox and Chao found a more probable explanation of this phenomenon. The data suggested that the oceans had been rapidly transporting substantial quantities of water and ice from higher to lower latitudes, thereby shifting Earth's mass and causing a corresponding alteration in the planet's gravitational field from the higher to the lower latitudes. The scientists noted, however, that additional data and analysis were necessary to determine whether their interpretation of the data was correct. (NASA, “Satellites Reveal a Mystery of Large Change in Earth's Gravity Field,” news release 02-147, 1 August 2002; Christopher M. Cox and Benjamin F. Chao, “Detection of Large-Scale Mass Redistribution in the Terrestrial System Since 1998,” Science 297, no. 5582 (2 August 2002): 83 1-833.)
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