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The axis of rotation of the planet Teirra has varied in surprising ways. This, a priori, does not have a direct impact on our day-to-day lives, but the reason why it has done so does. And it has to do with the planet’s freshwater reserves, the aquifers are slowly drying up while the sea level rises, which poses something dangerous when it comes to firmly understanding the environmental situation in which our planet finds itself. In this way, we find that the study of our planet is giving us very important information about how it works, from the changes in the Earth’s core and could even hold the key to understanding life outside it.
A substantial change in the study of our waters
A scientific study published in open access in the journal Geophysical Research Letters has studied in depth the movement of the Earth’s axis of rotation at polar height to show a new view of how sea level rise is affecting the world. Specifically, it has to do with the depletion of groundwater in much of the world. To do this, they have used data that span from 1993 to 2010 and show how water resources and their scarcity are having serious planetary consequences.
They analyzed variations in the Earth’s rotation axis to quantify changes in mass distribution on the planet’s surface. Through this approach, which is not at all common, it was possible to accurately assess the impact of various factors on sea level, including the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, fluctuations in soil moisture and the construction of artificial reservoirs.
The depletion of groundwater is the second major cause of the observed changes in the polar movement, causing a pole drift of 4.36 centimeters per year towards 64.16 degrees east. Therefore, the conclusion of the article shows the incredible importance of taking care of our aquifers to avoid greater evils.
Geographically, the regions most affected by the decline in groundwater reserves are northwestern India and western North America. These localized losses have global repercussions, translating into a generalized sea level rise of approximately 10 millimeters in most oceans, although with some regional variations.
However, the researchers acknowledge certain limitations in their approach, such as the exclusion of changes in natural lakes and the possible effects of mantle convection and large earthquakes. These considerations open the door for future research to further refine the understanding of the dynamics between groundwater and global sea level.
Thus, although the study may have its small limitations, it is clear that the contribution of the depletion of our aquifers could mark a substantial change in the inclination of the axis of rotation, but we could soon feel the repercussions in a strong way in the rise in sea level, a direct consequence of this drying up and which could be truly problematic in the future. Therefore, a global understanding and a holistic study of the situation of reservoirs and aquifers is necessary to determine how these problems can be tackled.
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