Posted on 02/22/2005 12:04:12 PM PST by nickcarraway
Sumatra quake pushed Phuket 32cm southwest and moved Bangkok: expert
Phuket shifted 32 centimetres to the south-west and Bangkok moved nine centimetres as a result of the Sumatra earthquake that caused the devastating tsunami two months ago, a Chulalongkorn University lecturer said yesterday.
Dr Itthi Trisirisattayawong, head of the Faculty of Engineering’s Survey Engineering Department, said the positions of Phuket and Bangkok were measured and compared with data recorded in October.
He said the measurements were carried out using GPS (global positioning system) receivers installed at Phuket’s Promthep Cape and at the Faculty of Engineering.
The land position measurements were carried out as part of the Southeast Asia Mastering Environment Research with Geodetic and Space Techniques (Seamerges) project with the cooperation of Asean and the EU. The project began on January 19 last year.
The study was initially carried out only at two locations after the earthquake. Data will soon be taken at six other locations in Uttaradit, Uthai Thani, Si Sa Ket and Chumphon to get a better picture of the effects of the quake on land positions, he said.
The movement of land would have no effect on the general population, but it would have technical repercussions on certain agencies, such as the Royal Military Survey Department, he said.
The survey team took three weeks to measure the two locations as it required the use of high-precision GPS receivers and the data had to be analysed by software from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Nasa, in the United States.
He said his department would work with the Mineral Resources Department to set up five more GPS measurement stations, requiring a budget of Bt12 million.
I heard the entire island of Summatra moed several feet.
I'm no expert on surveying, but I know that certain areas have stronger gravitational pull and repeatedly survey differently. Where we live in Whatcom County, WA, there are areas that get different results with every survey. It's especially troubling in sub divisions where a few feet can make a big difference.
Whatcom? Isn't that where the creeks flow with gasoline?
well that's one way to get a little closer to Pattaya....
Apples and oranges. What is called the gravimetric "sphere" affects compasses as well gravity readings. GPS is immune to all that since the final position depends entirely on measured distances, and is further "projected" onto a standard "geoid", so, all other factors being consistent, repeated measurements at maximum resolution should agree within half a centimeter.
Thanks!
Beats me. I am from the U.S.
No phukin' way!
Thanks for everybody's help! ;-)
I've walked the streets of Bangkok and seen everything moving, but that's a different story.
Yes, it said Bangkok moved nine centimetres.
Hey pal, I phukin' know how it's pronounced! 8^)
Bankok and Phuket. No wonder it was easy to get Bill Clinton over there. Now if they would just keep him.
Didn't find it in the post. Thanks.
Krungthep Mahanakhon Bovorn Ratanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokpop Noparatratchathani Burirom Udomratchanivet Mahasathan Amornpiman Avatarnsathit Sakkathattiyavisnukarmprasit
Try saying that when you've had to many Singha.
I'd have to have several Singhas just to make the attempt. Ok. What's a Singha?
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