Modelul 3D publicat de NASA arată ca un cartof. De ce forma Pământului este diferită de cea cunoscută

NASA has released a new interactive 3D model of Earth's geoid, illustrating how gravity affects ocean shapes. The geoid is an equipotential surface used to define sea level and altitudes. Variations in gravitational pull cause the ocean surface to be slightly undulated, with heights ranging from +85 meters near Iceland to -106 meters in southern India. The model is based on over a billion observations from 19 satellites, including NASA's GRACE missions. The visual representation exaggerates height differences by 10,000 times for clarity, while a real-scale version shows a nearly smooth surface. Users can explore the geoid's shape from various angles.