Groundwater extraction tilting Earth's spin, may fuel climate change: Report
Humans have pumped so much water out of the ground that Earth has tilted nearly 80cm east between 1993 and 2010, according to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the journal of the American Geophysical Union. Scientists earlier estimated that 2,150 gigatons of groundwater, the equivalent of a quarter-inch of sea level rise, have been pumped in the said period.
Groundwater's redistribution largely impacts rotational pole drift
The researchers noted that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater has the largest impact on the rotational pole's drift. They added that water's ability to change Earth's rotation was discovered in 2016. Until now, the specific contribution of groundwater to these rotational changes has been unexplored. The researchers said nations' attempts to slow groundwater depletion rates could theoretically alter the change in drift.
