Earth Has Tilted 31.5 Inches. That Shouldn't Happen

Summary

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:When humans pump groundwater, it has a substantial impact on the tilt of Earth’s rotation. Additionally, a study documents just how much of an influence groundwater pumping has on climate change. Understanding this relatively recent data may provide a better understanding of how to help stave off sea-level rise.Water has power. So much power, in fact, that pumping Earth’s groundwater can change the planet’s tilt and rotation. It can also impact sea-level rise and other consequences of climate change.Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now—thanks to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters—we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to .24 inches of sea level rise. “Earth’s rotational pole actually changes a lot,” Ki-Weon Seo, a geophysicist at Seoul National University and study lead, says in a statement. “Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole.”With the Earth moving on a rotational pole, the distribution of water on the planet impacts distribution of mass. “Like adding a tiny bit of weight to a spinning top,” authors say, “the Earth spins a little differently as water is moved around.”NASA research published in 2016 alerted us to the fact that the distribution of water can change the Earth’s rotation. This study in Geophysical Research Letters attempts to add some hard figures to that realization. “I’m very glad to find the unexplained cause of the rotation pole drift,” Seo says. “On the other hand, as a resident of Earth and a father, I’m concerned and surprised to see that pumping groundwater is another source of sea-level rise.”The study included data from 1993 through 2010, and showed that the pumping of as much as 2,150 gigatons of groundwater has ...