Slowing Earth Rotation Could Increase Earthquake Activity

I certainly did not see this coming.  Earthquake activity is expected to rise in 2018 thanks to a slowdown in the rotation of the Earth.  Are you kidding me?  We already have to worry about such things as system hacking, tsunamis, space junk, terrorism and nuclear attacks, and now we get to add a slowdown in the Earth’s rotation speed to the mix?  Oy Vey!

Why the Earth’s Rotation Speed Influences Earthquake Activity

Whether I like it or not, this phenomenon is apparently very real and can even been measured.

Scientists believe the rotation slowdown could trigger intense seismic activity, especially near the Earth’s equator.  And I’m not talking about a change that we can actually perceive as humans – the slowdown involves subtracting a mere millisecond from the length of a day.  Yet a change so small is correlated with a near doubling of earthquake activity!

In the last 150 years, the Earth has experienced this slight rotational slowdown several times, each of which lasted approximately 5 years.  And sure enough, earthquake activity spiked within these 5-year periods, sometimes involving a so-called megaquake.

Scientists are not certain why this happens, but they do speculate that it correlates with behavioral changes deep within the Earth’s core.  But they do not know if the rotational slowdown causes the changes within the Earth’s core, or if the changes in the Earth’s core cause the slowdown.

The bottom line is that this is real and proven, so utility companies should be preparing for increased earthquake activity in 2018 by updating emergency plans and protocols, and practicing dealing with this scenario in exercises and drills.