Pumping Out Groundwater Changes Earth's Spin

A new study shows that pumping and relocating of groundwater has slightly shifted Earth’s mass – thus slightly changing Earth’s spin – and causing Earth’s rotational axis to increase its rate of wandering, Kelly Kizer Whitt reported for EarthSky.

Photo Insert: Moving large masses of water has tilted Earth about 31.5 inches (80 cm) east.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) said that Earth’s 8 billion humans have pumped so much groundwater that we’ve nudged our world’s spin.

Groundwater withdrawal for agriculture, mining, or household use, for example, has caused a slight-but-noticeable shift in Earth’s mass. In turn, it caused the Earth’s rotational pole to wander nearly a meter (about a yard) over the last two decades.

Moving large masses of water has tilted Earth about 31.5 inches (80 cm) east. And that’s only from between 1993 and 2010. The researchers published their study on June 15, 2023, in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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