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Science 2 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5582, pp. 831 - 833
DOI: 10.1126/science.1072188
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Reports

Detection of a Large-Scale Mass Redistribution in the Terrestrial System Since 1998 

Christopher M. Cox,1* Benjamin F. Chao2

Earth's dynamic oblateness (J2) had been undergoing a decrease, according to space geodetic observations over the past 25 years, until around 1998, when it switched quite suddenly to an increasing trend that has continued to the present. The secular decrease in J2 resulted primarily from the postglacial rebound in the mantle. The present increase, whose geophysical cause(s) are uncertain, thus signifies a large change in global mass distribution with a J2 effect that considerably overshadows that of mantle rebound.

1 Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services (ITSS),
2 Space Geodesy Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 926, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ccox{at}stokes.gsfc.nasa.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)