The expanding Earth at present: evidence from temporal gravity field and space-geodetic data

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Wen-Bin Shen
Rong Sun
Wei Chen
Zhenguo Zhang
Jin Li
Jiancheng Han
Hao Ding

Abstract

The Earth expansion problem has attracted great interest, and the present study demonstrates that the Earth has been expanding, at least over the recent several decades. Space-geodetic data recorded at stations distributed globally were used (including global positioning system data, very-long-baseline interferometry, satellite laser ranging stations, and stations for Doppler orbitography and radiopositioning integrated by satellite), which covered a period of more than 10 years in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2008. A triangular network covering the surface of the Earth was thus constructed based on the spherical Delaunay approach, and average-weighted vertical variations in the Earth surface were estimated. Calculations show that the Earth is expanding at present at a rate of 0.24 ± 0.04 mm/yr. Furthermore, based on the Earth Gravitational Model 2008 and the secular variation rates of the second-degree coefficients estimated by satellite laser ranging and Earth mean-pole data, the principal inertia moments of the Earth (A, B, C) and in particular their temporal variations, were determined: the simple mean value of the three principal inertia moments (i.e., [A+B+C]/3) is gradually increasing. This clearly demonstrates that the Earth has been expanding, at least over the recent decades, and the data show that the Earth is expanding at a rate ranging from 0.17 ± 0.02 mm/yr to 0.21 ± 0.02 mm/yr, which coincides with the space geodetic evidence. Hence, based on both space geodetic observations and gravimetric data, we conclude that the Earth has been expanding at a rate of about 0.2 mm/yr over recent decades.

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How to Cite
Shen, W.-B., Sun, R., Chen, W., Zhang, Z., Li, J., Han, J. and Ding, H. (2011) “The expanding Earth at present: evidence from temporal gravity field and space-geodetic data”, Annals of Geophysics, 54(4). doi: 10.4401/ag-4951.
Section
Research Articles