Polar Drift Could be an Impact of Climate Change Say Scientists

Polar Drift might have resulted from Climate Change according to the researchers, get the details...

Monday, 3rd May 2021

A new study has shown that the North Pole drift is caused by climate change.

It is believed by NASA researchers that climate change does not only cause the rise of oceans, it also affects the magnetic field of the Earth. A “dramatic” shift is the direction of the pole drift that has been noticed, which without doubt has been brought about by glacial melt caused by climate change. It is in a big way, connected to “to the disappearance of the ice sheets, especially in Greenland.”

The point where the Earth’s axes coincide with the surface at its geographic poles is not fixed. On the other hand, they are in a cycle of seasonal and almost yearly meanderings. This phenomenon is by and large brought about by weather patterns and ocean currents.

However, besides wandering in moderately tight swirls, with the earth’s weight distribution shifting and changing its rotation around its axis, over a span of time the poles drift.

It has been seen earlier in the 1990s that the North Pole had been drifting toward the western edge of Canada’s Ellesmere Island. The course had thereafter altered by about 71 degrees eastward and took a turn toward the north-eastern tip of Greenland.

Holding on to the momentum in that direction, it kept on its journey moving about 10 centimeters each year although scientists haven’t been able to quite understand the reason why.

Also Read: Researchers Say “Yellowballs” Seen in the Milky Way are Baby Stars.

Suxia Liu, a hydrologist at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in Beijing has worked on patterns of polar drift and their similarities with previous studies on glacial melt across the globe.

This trend has particularly been seen in Alaska, Greenland, and the southern Andes. Its timing and effects show that is caused by glacial melt triggered by climate change which in turn led to polar drift.

The team’s analysis suggests that there are other factors also that account for the polar drift. For instance, extensive irrigation has led to groundwater getting pumped from aquifers in one region and ending up in an ocean far away. This, and such other “human activity” has impacted nature so much so that “they can change the axis of the Earth.”

The News Talkie Bureau

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Science news