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Looming ‘supermoon’ did not trigger Japan tremblor, tsunami


Did the approaching “extreme supermoon" event – when the full moon comes closest to the Earth in alignment with the sun – trigger Friday’s magnitude-8.9 Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami, as was foretold by an astrologer? “No, it did not," answered the website EarthSky.org – which claims to have more than 600 science advisors and partners such as the United States’ National Aerospace Authority (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Geological Society of America. USA/ EarthSky founder and president, Deborah Byrd, emphatically said: “The March 11 moon [referring to the moon’s position on the day of the Japan earthquake] does not prove the supermoon-earthquake theory. In fact, it disproves it." In an online article, astrologer Richard Noelle said he coined the word “supermoon" in 1979 to describe “what is technically termed a perigee-syzygy," where a new or full moon at its closest approach to Earth (perigee) in a given orbit. The full moon on March 19 is at its lunar perigee, the closest it gets to the Earth. At a distance of 356,577 km, this is closest the moon has gotten in the past 18 years. “In short, Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line, with [the] Moon in its nearest approach to Earth," Noelle said, as explanation of what a supermoon is. Conflicting opinions A day before the Japan quake, an article was posted online on Life's Little Mysteries – a sister site of Space.com – and started going around other online news websites like Yahoo!News and MSNBC. The article said: “The bottom line is, the upcoming supermoon won't cause a preponderance of earthquakes, although the idea isn't a crazy one." But Noelle claims that “the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, the largest volcanic event in the second half of the 20th Century, took place on June 15, 1991 (within three days of a SuperMoon)" He also said: “Of course, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions don't go wandering all over the planet. They happen in (mostly) predictable locations, like the infamous ‘Ring of Fire’ around the Pacific plate." An Australian website had earlier cited conflicting opinions of two scientists on what it branded as “Moonageddon". Astronomy lecturer Dr. David Reneke told news.com.au that: “If you try hard enough you can chronologically associate almost any natural disaster/event to anything in the night sky ... comet, planet, sun." But planetary and environmental geoscientist Dr. Victor Gostin did not discount some correlation between near-equatorial large scale earthquakes and full moon situations, saying: “This is because the Earth-tides (analogous to ocean tides) may be the final trigger that sets off the earthquake." ‘Earth-tides’ – true or false? Byrd conceded that: “The moon does indeed cause tides in the solid body of Earth, just as it causes ocean tides. So it’s logical to assume an especially close full moon might cause geologic activity to increase." But she dismissed offhand as “fringe" studies those allegedly proving a connection between the moon and geologic activity. She also pointed out that “the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan occurred when the moon was at first quarter, and not particularly close to Earth. March 11, 2011 should be a time of neap tides – or least tidal range – not at a time of high spring tides. The March 11 moon is not an example of a supermoon." “Will the March 19, 2011 close full moon cause floods? Yes, that’s different," Byrd distinguished. “Now we’re on more solid ground. Close full moons do cause maximum tidal ranges. So if a storm moves into a coastline on the day a full moon is closest, it can cause flooding along that coast. If you live along a coast, and a storm is heading your way on or around March 19 … expect possible flooding and take precautions."—JV, GMA News

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