Ever wondered if humans can make our planet move in different ways?
According to a study from Seoul National University, by pumping large amounts of groundwater, we’ve managed to nudge the Earth’s spin!
It might sound like a plot from a sci-fi movie, but it’s a real-life story of the impact humans have on our planet.
Between 1993 and 2010, we’ve pumped out so much groundwater – around 2,150 gigatons (that’s a billion tons!) – that we’ve caused the Earth to tilt almost 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) to the east.
That’s like tilting a football field by more than the length of a soccer ball!
This groundwater pumping has not only tilted our planet but also contributed to the rise of sea levels.
How does this happen, you may wonder? Picture Earth as a giant spinning top. The point around which it spins is called the rotational pole, and it doesn’t stay in one place. It moves around in a process called polar motion.
This motion is influenced by how water is spread across the planet. When we pump water out of one place and move it to another, it’s like putting a tiny extra weight on our spinning top, making it spin a bit differently.
The scientists behind this study, led by Ki-Weon Seo, made use of this concept to figure out how much we have affected the Earth’s spin by pumping groundwater.
They compared a model of Earth’s spinning with and without the groundwater we’ve pumped out. The two only matched when they accounted for the 2150 gigatons of water we’ve moved around.
And here’s another interesting fact: where the groundwater comes from matters too. Moving water from places in the middle of the Earth, like parts of North America and India, can have a larger effect on how the Earth spins.
However, don’t worry about our winters turning into summers anytime soon! The Earth’s spin changes by a few meters every year, so the change from our groundwater pumping is not that extreme.
But it’s a significant discovery that shows just how much our actions can impact the planet.
The researchers hope to use this information to understand how the distribution of water across continents has changed over the past century. This could reveal even more about the impact of climate change on our world.
So, next time you take a sip of water, remember, we’re all part of the story of how our planet spins!
The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters.
