The Earth has tilted 31.5 inches and it has a huge impact on our planet

On By Littum

The earth has tilted 31.5 inches and it is all a result of human activity.

The way the planet rotates has been fundamentally changed by the process of pumping groundwater, and it has a far greater impact than previously imagined.

As a result, sea levels have risen 0.24 inches in less than two decades, and the land has tilted 31.5 inches.

This is the subject of a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters which considers the effect of this change on the Earth’s rotation and the distribution of water.

Ki-Weon Seo is a geophysicist at Seoul National University and study leader, who said in a statement: “The Earth’s pole of rotation is actually changing a lot. Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the biggest impact on the pole of rotation’s operation.”

The study also considers the effect that the distribution of water has on the planet’s mass, and the study reads: “Like adding a little bit of weight to a spinning top, the Earth rotates slightly differently when the water is moved around.”

The study identifies water movements from western North America and northwestern India as being the most significant, with pumping of water from mid-latitudes having the greatest influence on Earth’s rotation.

The study built on previous research from 2016 that first put forward the idea – and it’s also more worrying news for the climate as it affects sea level rise.

Sea said: “I am very pleased to find the unexplained cause of the spin-rod drift. On the other hand, as an Earth dweller and a father, I am concerned and surprised to see that groundwater pumping is another source of sea level rise .”

It comes after research published in 2024 estimated that melting ice at the poles of our planet could change the Earth’s spin.

This could see a delay of the “leap second” to be added to the world clock, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), in 2026. That may now have to be pushed back to 2029. Read more here.

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