Here's a snippet of an incredibly interesting post I found.
The takeaway
I first heard about a possible connection between a supermoon and earthly disasters from a website called Psychic Connection.
It predicted “severe weather patterns, increased seismic activity, tsunamis and more volcanic eruptions than normal.”
In my 40 years of writing about the sky, I’ve never heard of a connection between full moons and severe weather. Can’t comment on that one.
There are mentions in the scientific literature of a possible connection between full moons and geologic activity.
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,
and occasionally I’ve seen random (dare I say “fringe?”) studies suggesting this connection.
In reality, is the connection between the moon and geologic activity a strong one?
I’ve never seen a study showing a striking pattern between close full moons and increased geologic activity.
Will the March 19, 2011 full moon
--which coincides with the moon’s closest point to Earth--
bring more earthquakes and tsunamis? Will it cause volcanic eruptions?
Let me ask another question first.
Why, I wonder, do people want to believe in unfounded predictions for disasters?
The moon’s distance from Earth is changing continually.
The full moon on March 19 will be a close one,
but there’s no scientific evidence it will cause any of those events.
The March 11 moon does not prove the supermoon-earthquake theory.
In fact, it disproves it. Plus we know of closer full moons than the March 19 moon that did no harm.
Will the March 19, 2011 close full moon cause floods?
Yes, that’s different. 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.
I don’t believe science knows everything. Clearly, it doesn’t.
But we live in a complicated world, a world that features gobs of misinformation flying willy-nilly on the Interwebs, terrifying people at every turn.
So – I believe – it’s important to separate fact from fiction.
The March 19, 2011 supermoon is interesting, but it’s no reason to think that more earthly disasters are looming on the near horizon.
Better to focus instead on what’s really important now--looking to the reality of the March 11, 2011 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami in the Pacific--and responding with our hopes, prayers and support.
To read more, go to
http://www.fastcompany.com/1737710/the-supermoon-and-japans-89-magnitude-earthquake
Happy Moon Gazing tonight.
The takeaway
I first heard about a possible connection between a supermoon and earthly disasters from a website called Psychic Connection.
It predicted “severe weather patterns, increased seismic activity, tsunamis and more volcanic eruptions than normal.”
In my 40 years of writing about the sky, I’ve never heard of a connection between full moons and severe weather. Can’t comment on that one.
There are mentions in the scientific literature of a possible connection between full moons and geologic activity.
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,
and occasionally I’ve seen random (dare I say “fringe?”) studies suggesting this connection.
In reality, is the connection between the moon and geologic activity a strong one?
I’ve never seen a study showing a striking pattern between close full moons and increased geologic activity.
Will the March 19, 2011 full moon
--which coincides with the moon’s closest point to Earth--
bring more earthquakes and tsunamis? Will it cause volcanic eruptions?
Let me ask another question first.
Why, I wonder, do people want to believe in unfounded predictions for disasters?
The moon’s distance from Earth is changing continually.
The full moon on March 19 will be a close one,
but there’s no scientific evidence it will cause any of those events.
The March 11 moon does not prove the supermoon-earthquake theory.
In fact, it disproves it. Plus we know of closer full moons than the March 19 moon that did no harm.
Will the March 19, 2011 close full moon cause floods?
Yes, that’s different. 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.
I don’t believe science knows everything. Clearly, it doesn’t.
But we live in a complicated world, a world that features gobs of misinformation flying willy-nilly on the Interwebs, terrifying people at every turn.
So – I believe – it’s important to separate fact from fiction.
The March 19, 2011 supermoon is interesting, but it’s no reason to think that more earthly disasters are looming on the near horizon.
Better to focus instead on what’s really important now--looking to the reality of the March 11, 2011 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami in the Pacific--and responding with our hopes, prayers and support.
To read more, go to
http://www.fastcompany.com/1737710/the-supermoon-and-japans-89-magnitude-earthquake
Happy Moon Gazing tonight.
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