A new study has found that Earth’s geographic poles may shift their positions due to alarming levels of ice melt caused by climate change.
- Geographical poles are the points at which the Earth’s axis of rotation intersects the surface.
- The motion of the Earth's rotational pole with respect to the crust is called polar motion.
Why Poles are Shifting?
- Earth’s rotation is not perfectly stable. It wobbles due to changes in how mass is spread across the planet.
- These wobbles can come from:
- Fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, or ocean currents
- Core- mantle dynamic
- Fusion of glacial caps and glaciers
- According to the study, melting ice and shifting ocean mass could cause the North and South Poles to move by 12 to 27 meters by 2100.
- The leading cause is ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica, followed by smaller glaciers.
Effects of Shifting Poles
- Navigation Problems: Shifting poles can affect satellites and space telescopes, which depend on Earth’s rotation for accurate positioning.
- Longer Days: Melting ice moves mass from the poles to the equator, making Earth slightly more flattened.
- This slows down its spin, causing longer days.
- Since 2000, days have been getting longer by 1.33 milliseconds every 100 years, faster than in the past century.
- This slows down its spin, causing longer days.
