The ground is shaking

Experts are informing about the changes happening on the planet and new discoveries by doing research. Recent research has shown that groundwater extraction has affected the Earth’s axial rotation. One of the main reasons for this is global warming. According to scientists, from 1993 to 2010, the Earth’s axis of rotation has moved about 80 cm towards the east. According to research published in the Journal of the American Geophysical Union, this has led to widespread withdrawal of large groundwater reserves.

According to this research, the release of ground water has also had an effect on the sea level. Professor of Earth Sciences in Seoul National University of South Korea says, “The water extracted from the ground by a motor or pump either evaporates.” Blows away in the wind or washed away in rivers. Finally, it falls into the ocean. Thus, this water joins the ocean from land and this process gives rise to redistribution of water.

It previously explored the ability of water to alter the Earth’s rotation in 2016. Another study later in 2021 focused on the tilting of the Earth’s axis of rotation and the effects of water loss in the Earth’s polar regions. . That is, the ice in these regions that melts and flows into the sea. Experts say that until now there was no research on the effects of extracting groundwater on the earth’s circulation.

The pole of the Earth’s rotation is the point around which the Earth rotates. Rotation around this axis is called the process of “polar rotation”. That is, when the position of the Earth’s axis of rotation is different from that of the surface. Variations in the position of the Earth’s poles are known as polar drift and occur naturally. Changes in the distribution of Earth’s material cause the axis to move, so the poles, the points around which the Earth’s axis rotates, also shift. According to experts, since the 1990s, the change in the Earth’s rotation axis is being observed because of human action.

The distribution of water on Earth affects how matter is distributed on our planet. Scientists say it’s like putting a little weight on the rotating part. In this way, as the water will change its place, there will be some difference in the rotation of the earth. “There has actually been a significant change in the Earth’s rotation pole,” says researcher Siu. Research shows that along with the causes of climate change, the distribution of groundwater also plays a major role in the rotation of the Earth’s pole.

In the research, the scientists also found that the distribution of water from the Earth’s equatorial latitudes has a greater effect on the Earth’s axis of rotation. During the study, most of the water was distributed from western North America to northwestern India, and these two The regions fall in the mid-latitudes of the earth. Efforts by many countries around the world to reduce groundwater withdrawals from sensitive areas such as the mid-latitudes could change the variability in the Earth’s polar orbit. But this will happen if these efforts continue for decades.

In this new study, scientists observed changes in the Earth’s axis of rotation and the movement of water. Previously, they thought that the distribution and movement of water from one region of the Earth to another was caused by climate change and ice and glaciers in the polar regions. But later, experts included different scenarios of groundwater redistribution, then created a model to account for changes in the Earth’s axis of rotation, and it recorded 2,150 gigatons of groundwater redistribution. Corresponds to tilt.

Previous research has estimated that 2,150 gigatons of groundwater were withdrawn between 1993 and 2010, equivalent to more than six millimeters of sea level rise. Surendra, a research scientist, says the new research is a good addition. Researchers have measured the role of groundwater pumping in polar motion, and it is critical. In 2016, Surendra was among the authors of a study on the effects of water distribution on Earth’s polar circulation, but Seoul National University. According to Siu, a professor at and author of the recent study, the distribution of water on Earth does not affect the seasons.

Generally, the Earth’s axis of rotation moves a few meters during a year. So a change in the rotation axis of up to one meter in two decades does not affect the climate. Importantly, it is confirmed that groundwater extraction affects the Earth’s axis of rotation. We present changes in the axis of rotation as evidence for the effects of groundwater extraction.