Earth Has Tilted 31.5 Inches. That's Alarming.

 The Earth has tilted 31.5 inches because of human activity 

When humans pump groundwater, it has a substantial impact on the tilt of Earth’s rotation. Additionally, a study documents just how much of an influence groundwater pumping has on climate change. Understanding this relatively recent data may provide a better understanding of how to help stave off sea-level rise. The Earth has tilted 31.5 inches and its all a result of human activity. The way the planet rotates has been fundamentally changed by the process of pumping groundwater, and it is having a far bigger impact than previously imagined. Water has power. So much power, in fact, that pumping Earth’s groundwater can change the planet’s tilt and rotation. It can also impact sea-level rise and other consequences of climate change.

As a result, sea levels have risen .24 inches in less than two decades and the Earth has tilted 31.5 inches. This is the subject of a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters which considers the impact of this change on the rotation of the Earth and the distribution of water. Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now, we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to.24 inches of sea level rise. “Earth’s rotational pole actually changes a lot,” Ki-Weon Seo, a geophysicist at Seoul National University and study lead, says that “Earth’s rotational pole actually changes a lot. Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole.”

NASA research published in 2016 alerted us to the fact that the distribution of water can change the Earth’s rotation. This study in Geophysical Research Letters attempts to add some hard figures to that realization. “I’m very glad to find the unexplained cause of the rotation pole drift,” Seo says. “On the other hand, as a resident of Earth and a father, I’m concerned and surprised to see that pumping groundwater is another source of sea-level rise.” The study included data from 1993 through 2010, and showed that the pumping of as much as 2,150 gigatons of groundwater has caused a change in the Earth’s tilt of roughly 31.5 inches. The pumping is largely for irrigation and human use, with the groundwater eventually relocating to the oceans. With the Earth moving on a rotational pole, the distribution of water on the planet impacts distribution of mass. “Like adding a tiny bit of weight to a spinning top,” authors say, “the Earth spins a little differently as water is moved around.”

The study also considers the effect that the distribution of water has on the mass of the planet, with the study reading: “Like adding a tiny bit of weight to a spinning top, the Earth spins a little differently as water is moved around.” In the study, researchers modelled observed changes in the drift of Earth’s rotational pole and the movement of water. Across varying scenarios, the only model that matched the drift was one that included 2,150 gigatons of groundwater distribution. The study identifies water movement from western North America and northwestern India as being the most significant, with pumping water from the midlatitudes having the biggest impact on the Earth’s rotation. Surendra Adhikari, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was involved in the 2016 study, says the additional research is important. “They’ve quantified the role of groundwater pumping on polar motion,” he says in a news release, “and it’s pretty significant.”

The study has built on previous research from 2016 that first put forward the idea, and it’s also more worrying news for the climate as it impacts sea level rise. Where the water moves from, and to, matters. Now that the impact of water movement is known for such a short, and relatively recent, time, digging through historical data may help show trends and provide greater depth to the understanding of groundwater movement effects. “Observing changes in Earth’s rotational pole is useful,” Seo says, “for understanding continent-scale water storage variations.” Sea said: “I’m very glad to find the unexplained cause of the rotation pole drift. On the other hand, as a resident of Earth and a father, I’m concerned and surprised to see that pumping groundwater is another source of sea-level rise.” It comes after research published in 2024 considered that melting ice at the poles of our planet may change the Earth’s spin.