According to this:
http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2010/03/spinning_up_the_earth.php?id=146589

The pole shifted all of three inches and the day got shorter by 1.26 microseconds. So if your feeling a bit lost and short of sleep you have an excuse.

NPR had a bit on it this morning that noted that neither the three inches nor the shorter day have been observationally verified. Those values are theoretical and are apparently too small, in relation to normal variation, to be show up.

Thanks, I appreciate the info, I was more concerned that changes in the earths parameters (axis, rotation, etc..) would cause a loss in our navigation capabilities and of course more important disasters may follow(increase in natural events. I'm aware the magnetic spots through the chart and was thinking that anytime you make a major shift to a big axis, your readings will adjust as well. Kinda of like putting a magnet on a table and looking at a reading on your compass and then move the magnet and of course the compass follows suit. One thing I'm not realizing is that this may occur over years and not something that will happen in days, so I'm not in a region on travel and wake up in the morning and wonder why my compass is pointing a complete direction than I had traveled the day before. I guess if this happens there are a lot more problems to worry about than this. Thanks for the input.

Those are estimates, not measurements. The Earth is nowhere near uniform, so until someone tries a measurement you never know if the estimate's assumptions are right.

The effect is so tiny it is probably lost in the noise of other, larger, influences. The millisecond pulsar observers *might* but able to detect the change if they were running a serious of observations at the time.

In terms of preparedness and compass usage - an unrelated issue - the word is Slow. When a geologist says "a sudden pole reversal", "sudden" means thousands to millions of years.

I knew it!

This forum is full of deviant talk.

LOL! Thanks, I need that!
-Blast

The rotation of the earth is measured continually fairly accurately by the IERS. The 1.2 microSec change in the length of a day due to the quake is small compared to the 5-10 millisecond variation over the year. But it is measurable.
Of course unless you are doing VLBI astronomy it's totally irrelevant!


We don't know how long a pole shift takes but it is fast in geological terms. Poles can change as often as every 200,000 years and we don't see a lot of intermediate values so it make take as 'little' as a few 1000 years.

There are theories that it is fast enough that the Van-Allen belts (which shield us from cosmic radiation) aren't seriously affected, which is why we don't see any biological/fossil evidence related to the flips.