Every time a farmer in California’s Central Valley or India’s Punjab region pumps water from underground to irrigate crops, something happens far above, at the level of the planet’s own spin. According to a 2023 study titled ‘Drift of Earth's Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010,’ published in Geophysical Research Letters and led by geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo of Seoul National University, humans pumped enough groundwater between 1993 and 2010 to cause Earth’s rotational pole to shift about 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) eastward.
What exactly moved and how
