The Impact of Human Groundwater Pumping on Earth's Axis and Spin

Humans have extracted and moved so much groundwater between 1993 and 2010 that it contributed to the migration of Earth's poles, resulting in a polar shift of 80 centimeters towards the east. Agriculture uses about 70 percent of the groundwater pumped for human use globally. The redistribution of groundwater has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole, even more than climate-related causes. Groundwater extraction pushed Earth's poles at a rate of 4.36 centimeters per year. The findings could help mitigate further polar motion and sea level rise if regions limit groundwater extraction rates.