WEATHER WOBBLES EARTH(New Scientist, 8.7.06, p. 19 and 18.2.06, pp. 42-45) Although geologists do not appear to be able to even think about pole tilts in respect of sudden climate changes and ice ages, they are prepared to accept that the Earth's axis can be made to tilt simply by high-pressure weather systems over a continent or a depression over an ocean. Admittedly, it is only a matter of centimeters but changes in the position of the pole of several metres are acknowledged as occurring regularly as the result of three different types of wobble, the Chandler wobble which takes 14 months to complete a cycle, the annual wobble and the Markowitz wobble, which takes 24 years. The first two are thought to be caused by weather and ocean currents. The Markowitz wobble is still a puzzling phenomenon. It is suggested that; Something must be dragging the planet's crust and mantle around. It does not seem so impossible that in the past something dragged the crust around to a much more noticeable degree. Extract from the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies Issue – November 2006
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