The tremors from the Japanese earthquake reach close to the universe

The record seismic in March in Japan was so strong that its shockwave nearly exceeded the atmosphere.

A computer model shows the height predicting waves of Japanese tsunamis moving across the Pacific Ocean. (National Geographic photo)

National Geographic quoted Emile Okal, a geophysicist of Northwestern University in the US, said that when the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, the ground and sea surface shook violently. The motion of the ground and the sea surface creates shock waves in vertical air.

The process always happened in every earthquake, but the tremor caused by the earthquake in March in Japan caused the biggest effect that people ever knew.

At the ground, those shock waves are very weak. In the process of moving to the thinner air layers, their power increased significantly.

At an altitude of about 9,100 m - where airplanes usually move - the amplitude of shock waves rises to about one meter. With that amplitude, the shockwave was not strong enough to cause a jolt for passenger aircraft.

But when moving to the upper air layer, the ionosphere, the amplitude of the shock waves is amplified several thousand times the original amplitude. They continue to move upwards and almost reach out of the atmosphere.

A bridge for railways in Japan collapsed during the earthquake on March 11. (Photo: EPA).

The earthquake in Japan on March 11 is one of the five most powerful earthquakes from 1900 to the present. Along with the tsunami, it left more than 22,000 people dead and missing, leading to the most serious nuclear crisis after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.