Groundwater Extraction Shifted the Earth’s Axis

Recently, in June 2023, a new study found that the excessive extraction of groundwater for drinking and irrigation has shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation.

About the Study

• The study, Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993-2010′, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, earlier this month.
• The major highlight of the study is that excessive extraction of groundwater for drinking and irrigation has shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation.

Findings

• The study says that humans pumped out around 2,150 gigatons of groundwater between 1993 and 2010 and this has led the planet’s axis to drift at the rate of 4.36 cm per year towards the east.
• The Earth’s axis is the imaginary line through the Earth that extends from the North Pole to the South Pole.
• At present, the Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the Sun.
• During a cycle that averages about 41,000 years, the tilt of the axis varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees.