Earth's axis is tilted by 80 cm

Humanity has extracted 2150 gigatons of groundwater. Just when I thought I could keep doing it, the Earth’s axis tilted.

In the past 20 years, humans have absorbed enormous amounts of groundwater Earth’s axis is tilted by about 80 cm. By extracting water and moving it elsewhere, our planet began to move eastward.

Scientists estimate that humanity has attracted 2,150 giga tons of groundwaterThis equates to more than 6 millimeters of sea level rise between 1993 and 2010. Based on climate models, scientists have identified imaginary lines. The earth moved almost a meter.

The Earth has tilted in the last 17 years

According to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, Affects the water supply on the planet How is mass distributed? To figure out what’s going on, they pointed out that the Earth spins a little differently when the water moves, like what happens when some weight is added to a top.

Water extraction Tilted the planet by 80 cm Over the past 17 years, excess water has flowed into the oceans as a result of withdrawal from groundwater aquifers.

“Our study shows that among climate-related causes, groundwater redistribution actually has the largest impact on polar circulation drift,” said Ki-won Seo. A geophysicist at Seoul National University led the study.

Researchers have identified The ability to change the water cycle Earth in 2016, and only now has the contribution of water withdrawal to changes been explored.

In the current study, they first considered ice sheets and glaciers and then added different groundwater redistribution scenarios to model the observed changes in Earth’s polar spin drift.

During the study period, most Water redistribution in western North America And this North West IndiaBoth in mid-latitudes.

This may interest you: It could be the dramatic end of Earth (and, incidentally, the Solar System).

Can tilt change seasons?

Tilted earth axis — SEO et al. (2023), Geophysical Research Letters

The axis of the planet is not moving enough Affects the cycle of seasons; However, an important factor Depletion of ground water After years of looting.

“I’m very happy to find an unexplained cause of cyclonic polar drift,” said geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo. “On the other hand, as an Earth dweller and a parent, I’m concerned and surprised to see groundwater absorption as another source of sea level rise.”

human activity It upsets the balance This is done not only from water accumulated in the mantle, but also from soil moisture and the preservation of mountain glaciers and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.

Researchers continue to look for other causes Understand why the Earth’s axis moves And where it can go. They note that there are other forces that can change their direction, but the results are still unknown.