Earth is far from a perfect sphere. Data from NASA and ESA satellites reveals the planet's geoid—the hypothetical shape of oceans governed purely by gravity—showing a remarkably lumpy surface. Most notably, a massive "gravity low" near southern India features gravitational pull about 106 meters weaker than average, while Iceland sits atop an 85-meter gravity high.
These variations are captured by the GOCO06s model, compiled from over a billion measurements across 15 years from 19 satellites like GRACE and GOCE. While the visualizations exaggerate depth 10,000 times for visibility, the underlying differences are real, caused by unequal mass distribution deep within Earth's mantle.
Our world is essentially a slightly uneven, wonky potato floating in space.
#EarthScience #NASA #Geoid
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