Since 1980, the planet’s north and south poles have moved roughly four meters in distance, and new research shows that shifts in the Earth’s rotational axis have accelerated since the 1990s as a result of the widespread melting of glaciers a clear manifestation, scientists say, of the climate emergency.
“Faster ice melting under global warming was the most likely cause of the directional change of the polar drift in the 1990s,” Shanshan Deng a researcher from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Thursday.
In a study published last month in the peer-reviewed journal
Earth has shifted on its axis due to melting of ice, study says - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists thebulletin.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thebulletin.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Understanding the responses of the date of autumn foliar senescence (DFS) to climate change is important for a better interpretation of carbon uptake.
The high northern latitudes (>50°) experienced a pronounced surface stilling (i.e., decline in winds) with climate change. But its influence on DFS remains unknown.
Prof. WU Chaoyang’s team from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that decline in winds significantly extended DFS over high northern latitudes at a magnitude comparable with the temperature and precipitation effects.
Their findings were published in PNAS.
Last modified on Fri 23 Apr 2021 05.59 EDT
The massive melting of glaciers as a result of global heating has caused marked shifts in the Earthâs axis of rotation since the 1990s, research has shown. It demonstrates the profound impact humans are having on the planet, scientists said.
The planetâs geographic north and south poles are the point where its axis of rotation intersects the surface, but they are not fixed. Changes in how the Earthâs mass is distributed around the planet cause the axis, and therefore the poles, to move.
In the past, only natural factors such as ocean currents and the convection of hot rock in the deep Earth contributed to the drifting position of the poles. But the new research shows that since the 1990s, the loss of hundreds of billions of tonnes of ice a year into the oceans resulting from the climate crisis has caused the poles to move in new directions.
Climate crisis has shifted the Earth’s axis, study shows Damian Carrington Environment editor
The massive melting of glaciers as a result of global heating has caused marked shifts in the Earth’s axis of rotation since the 1990s, research has shown. It demonstrates the profound impact humans are having on the planet, scientists said.
The planet’s geographic north and south poles are the point where its axis of rotation intersects the surface, but they are not fixed. Changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet cause the axis, and therefore the poles, to move.