US EditionWe've pumped so much groundwater that we've nudged the Earth's spin, says new study
- The Earth's axis of rotation has shifted measurably due to the loss of groundwater to human activity, with the net water lost estimated to be over 2 trillion tonnes between 1993 and 2010. The shift has caused the geographic North Pole to move at a speed of 4.36 centimeters per year towards Russia's Novaya Zemlya islands.
- Gravitational surveys have measured the depletion of underground reservoirs, caused in large part by irrigation, which shows that groundwater pumping shifted enough mass into the oceans to cause 6.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Humans Have Extracted So Much Groundwater It Tilted The Whole Earth
The overuse of groundwater isn’t just a concern for areas that may soon run out of the substance they depend on the most, it’s literally affecting the whole planet. That effect can be measured by observing changes in the locations of the North and South Poles, which a new study reveals shifted almost 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) in 17 years. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider the mass of the object that we’ve been tilting.Like anything th…
The rotation pole slid 80 inches away, which does not specifically draw attention to many but important processes.
The study: “Humans have extracted so much water from the subsoil that the Earth's axis has shifted.”
This is stated by research by scientists from the University of Seoul. A phenomenon that is estimated to change the planet's climate in the future
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