We’re a little lower to the ground these days. Or maybe it’s just that the ground itself is lower.
GPS data show #Harveyflood was so large it flexed Earth’s crust, pushing #Houston down by ~2 cm! #EarthScience #HurricaneHarvey #txflood pic.twitter.com/88lNScJBq9
— Chris Milliner (@Geo_GIF) September 4, 2017
Chris Milliner, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, used observations from the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory and the University Nevada-Reno statistics department to determine that the Houston metro area was two centimeters lower because of the load of the widespread floodwaters on the Earth’s crust.The simple explanation? Water is heavy. About a ton per cubic meter.
“GPS data show that (the flood) was so large it flexed Earth’s crust, pushing Houston down,” Milliner said Monday via Twitter.
Elaborating on Tuesday, Milliner said there’s no reason to worry. It should be a passing thing.
“This should be a temporary drop,” he said in an e-mail. “Once floodwaters recede, we should expect a similar, but opposite elastic response of the crust, i.e., uplift. Similar to if you were to jump on-and-off your mattress.”
Milliner referred to the phenomenon as local elastic subsidence. He said it is seen in most areas that experience significant seasonal changes in water or ice.
So we’ll probably bounce back, in the literal sense, which is nice. I recommend you click on the tweet link and read through the discussion. We all knew we got a crap-ton of rain, but holy mackeral is it amazing to be confronted with an illustration like this of just how much rain we got.