Changes in Earth’s gravity field resulting from the earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011 (mE=10-12s-2). A combination of data from ESA’s GOCE mission and the NASA–German Grace satellite, shows the ‘vertical gravity gradient change’. The 'beachball' marks the epicenter.
Image credit: DGFI/TU Delft
Weekly evolution of ocean surface currents from January 1993 to December 2011. Strong currents such as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, the Kuroshio in the Pacific Ocean and the Agulhas Current along the east coast of Africa are visible. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Equatorial currents are also evident, with speeds reaching up to 1.5 m/s. Gravity data from the GOCE mission together with 20 years of satellite altimetry measurements and information from drifters were combined to create this animation of our moving oceans.
Video credit: ESA/CNES/CLS
Loading...
New studies have revealed that the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011 was also felt in space by ESA’s GOCE satellite. The massive earthquake sent ripples of sound – called infrasound – upwards through the atmosphere. These sound waves caused changes in air density that were detected by ESA’s GOCE gravity satellite as it crossed the wavefront.
Read full article: GOCE the First Seismometer in Orbit.
Video credit: ESA/IRAP/CNES/TU Delft/HTG/Planetary Visions
The animation shows how the massive earthquake that hit Japan in 2011 caused ripples in the atmosphere. As sound waves from the earthquake traveled upwards, they caused changes in air density that were detected by ESA’s GOCE gravity satellite as it crossed the wavefront.
Video credit: ESA/IRAP/CNES/TU Delft/HTG/Planetary Visions
