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New Delhi. Groundwater pumping has moved such large masses of water that the Earth has tilted (lives ) about 80 cm eastward between 1993 and 2010, affecting Earth’s climate. This information has come out in a research. The research, published in the journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’, found that during the study period, the highest redistribution of water occurred in western North America and northwestern India.
Scientists previously estimated that humans extracted 2,150 gigatonnes of groundwater, which is equivalent to a sea level rise of more than six millimeters from 1993 to 2010. However, that estimate is difficult to verify. Geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo of Seoul National University, South Korea, who led the study, said, “Earth’s rotation pole is actually a big driver of change.”
Seo said, ‘Our study shows that among climate-related factors, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest effect on the tilt of the pole of rotation.’ and until now, the specific contribution of groundwater to these rotational changes was not discovered. The latest study modeled the observed changes in Earth’s rotational pole tilt and water circulation by first considering only ice sheets and glaciers and then adding different scenarios of groundwater redistribution.
The researchers said that the rotational pole normally shifts by several meters within about a year, so changes caused by groundwater pumping do not pose a risk of climate change. He added, however, that on a geological time scale, the polar tilt can have an effect on climate.
