Four and a half billion years ago, two ancient planets collided and merged into one to become
the Earth.
During the titanic collision of these two planets, proto-Earth and Theia, a small rocky
mass splintered off to form our moon.
This, our closest neighbor in the expanse of space, is inextricably linked to our very
existence, with lunar rhythms entrenched in Earth's life cycles.
The effects of the Moon's actions on Earth are still partially understood.
The problem is determining what is myth and when our lunar companion truly has an impact.
However, forthcoming natural shifts in the Moon's orbit - known as a "wobble" - combined
with rising sea levels caused by climate change might result in unprecedented floods on Earth
in the coming years, according to a recent study conducted by NASA and the University
of Hawaii.
What is going on (on) the Moon?
What will happen if this causes unprecedented floods on Earth, and how will this affect
us?
In this video, we look at NASA scientists' warnings about the catastrophic flooding that
the Moon will trigger on Earth!
The Moon is the fifth largest of our solar system's 200+ moons orbiting planets.
Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other
moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.
The Moon was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the
formation of the solar system.
The Moon rotates in synch with the Earth, so the same side is always facing the Earth.
Although both sides of the Moon receive the same amount of sunlight, only one face of
the Moon is ever visible from Earth.
This is due to the Moon rotating on its own axis in exactly the same amount of time as
it takes to orbit the Earth, resulting in the same side always facing the Earth.
Only from spacecraft has the side pointing away from Earth been observed by humans.
Because of its lesser mass, the Moon has significantly weaker gravity than Earth, therefore you would
weigh about one-sixth (16.5%) of your weight on Earth.
This is how the lunar explorers were able to leap so high into the air.
There is no atmosphere on the Moon.
This means that the Moon's surface is vulnerable to cosmic rays, meteorites, and solar winds,
and has wide temperature changes.
Because the Moon lacks atmosphere, no sound can be heard, and the sky is perpetually black.
Can you survive on the moon?
Staying on the satellite for an extended amount of time will need considerable endurance,
even with the most advanced technology.
The temperature on the moon reaches approximately 260 degrees Fahrenheit or 127 degrees Celsius
in bright sunlight.
Because the moon has no atmosphere, nothing will protect you from the sun's rays.
Temperatures can drop below -280 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 173 degrees Celsius, as it gets dark.
While the Moon is small in contrast to the Earth and is held in place by the earth's
gravity, it has a huge impact on the entire planet.
According to NASA, one of these effects will be widespread flooding.
Many events in your environment are caused by the Moon, even if you are ignorant of it.
Indeed, if the moon vanished from its current location, the Earth would change so significantly
that we might not recognize it as our home.
The tides are the moon's most noticeable and apparent influence on Earth.
The Moon and the Sun both exert gravitational pulls on Earth, resulting in tides.
In reality, the Earth's oceans facing the moon swell in response to the lunar gravitational
pull, resulting in a high tide.
However, due to the difference in gravitational attraction between the near and far sides
of the Earth, the side farthest from the Moon also has a high tide.
There are two low tides because the ocean is liquid between such two high tides.
Furthermore, because the Earth rotates, these high and low tides shift around the world
every 24 hours, resulting in two high tides and two low tides at each coastal point every
day.
Tides are also important for marine life.
Many species thrive in the intertidal zone, and if this area decreases or narrows due
to decreased tides, the species that live there will perish.
And for humans, that implies longer and more difficult fishing seasons, a popular water
activity would suffer, and you guessed it, surfing will suffer if the Moon is removed.
Although this may sound fantastic, NASA researchers and a group from the University of Hawaii
have found that we are about to experience the Moon's unsettling impacts firsthand as
a result of the Moon's position change, which they call the Moon Wobble.
What exactly is happening with the Moon?
The Moon is more mysterious than we thought, and the sly satellite continues to astound
us!
While the moon appears to move in circles and ovals, another component of its rotation
and revolutions will give us enormous troubles.
We are already seeing the effects of climate change as the seas and sea levels rise.
However, things are just going to become worse for coastal communities.
Scientists have known about the moon's wobble for a long time, but the possible repercussions
are now in front of us.
NASA is especially concerned about how the Moon Wobble would exacerbate the Earth's already-existing
climatic issues.
High tides are caused by the moon's gravity pulling on the earth as the planet spins,
resulting in two tides every day.
Furthermore, the moon orbits the Earth in a slightly tilted orbit once per month.
To be more specific, the moon's orbital plane around the Earth forms a 5-degree angle with
respect to the Earth's orbital plane around the Sun.
As a result, the moon's orbit appears to alter with time; it completes a full nodal cycle
every 18.6 years.
This happens on a slow time scale.
However, at some point throughout this cycle, the moon's gravitational influence is at such
an angle that it pulls one of the day's two high tides a little higher or the second one
a little lower.
You should have observed that the Moon is not inherently wobbly, and that it is still
tugging on the Earth with regular power.
Of course, even before the moon's wobble was detected, experts predicted considerably greater
high tide floods.
To formulate forecasts at these Tides, researchers must sift through a significant amount of
noisy data, as they must deal with complex weather patterns, astronomical occurrences,
and regional tidal variance.
The Moon Wobble is now data that they must incorporate into their models.
Moon Wobble, according to NASA analysts, will raise the effective sea level.
They say that as the decade passes, flooding will get much worse throughout every coast
in the United States.
However, while the Moon is still in its tide-amplifying cycle, we may get a brief reprieve.
The highest waves, exacerbated by the moon cycle, will result in an increase in flood
numbers along practically all US Mainland beaches, including Hawaii and Guam.
Because land areas are rising due to long-term geological processes, only the extreme northern
coasts, including Alaska's, will be spared for the time being.
So, how bad are the floods going to be?
You may recall some recent devastating floods, but NASA estimates that the moon's wobble
may increase or quadruple the number of flooding disasters, which is a scary thought.
Using 2019 as a baseline, where experts projected 600 floods, it is difficult to judge the implications
of increased flooding forecast by NASA.
Floods are most dangerous in low-lying areas, and the situation will only deteriorate with
time.
Models were employed by researchers to forecast how these floods would look.
Some of these floods may occur in groups and linger for more than a month.
Depending on the configuration of the Moon, Sun, and Earth, cities may be flooded on consecutive
days or every other day.
Except for Alaska, these tipping points were calculated by monitoring 89 tidal gauge stations
throughout the US coast.
They created an innovative statistical tool for mapping typical sea level scenarios and
flooding thresholds.
According to Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii and the study's
principal author, because high-tide floods include a modest amount of water compared
to hurricane storm surges, they are perceived as a less serious hazard overall.
“But if it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can’t keep operating with its
parking lot under water.
People lose their jobs because they can’t get to work.
Seeping cesspools become a public health issue.”
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained in a release: “The combination of the Moon’s
gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate
coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world.
NASA’s Sea Level Change Team is providing crucial information so that we can plan, protect,
and prevent damage to the environment and people’s livelihoods affected by flooding.”
NASA believes that sharing their findings will help at-risk cities take preventative
measures.
People must start planning now since flooding can last for a decade once it starts.
Another study found that large earthquakes, such as those that ravaged Chile in 2010 and
Japan in 2011, are more likely to occur during the full and new moons – the two times of
the month when tidal stresses are at their peak.
The Earth's tides, driven by a gravitational tug-of-war between the Moon and the Sun, place
additional strain on geological faults.
Seismologists have spent decades trying to figure out whether such stress may cause earthquakes.
They all believe that the ocean's twice-daily high tides can cause slow-motion tremors in
some locations, such as California's San Andreas fault and the Cascadia region of North America's
west coast.
This new study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, investigates far bigger patterns
involving the twice-monthly tides that occur between full and new moons.
It reveals that when tidal stresses increase, the proportion of high magnitude earthquakes
increases globally.
Satoshi Ide, a seismologist at the University of Tokyo, and his colleagues looked into three
different earthquake records from Japan, California, and throughout the world.
The scientists gave a number expressing the relative tidal stress on that day for the
15 days preceding each quake, with 15 signifying the highest.
They discovered that big earthquakes like the ones that struck Chile and Tohoku-Oki
happened during the time of maximum tidal strain — or during new and full moons when
the Sun, Moon, and Earth aligned.
The researchers discovered that an earthquake that began during a period of strong tidal
stress was more likely to expand to magnitude 8 or higher for over 10,000 earthquakes of
around magnitude 5.5.
“This is a very innovative way to address this long-debated issue,” explains Honn
Kao, a seismologist at the Geological Survey of Canada and Natural Resources Canada in
Sidney.
“It gives us some sense into the possible relationship between tidal stress and the
occurrence of big earthquakes.”
He believes that the minor extra strain of tides could be the final ingredient that causes
a geological fault to rupture.
Please share your thoughts on NASA's latest warning in the comments section below.