The Earth has tilted 91.5 centimeters and this is all the result of human activity.

The way the planet spins has been fundamentally changed by the process of groundwater pumping, and this is having a much greater impact than previously thought.

As a result, sea levels have risen 0.24 inches in less than twenty years and the Earth has tilted 91.5 inches.

This is the subject of a study published in the journal Geophysical research letters which takes into account the impact of this change on the rotation of the Earth and the distribution of water.

Ki-Weon Seo is a geophysicist at Seoul National University and research leader who said in a statement: “The Earth’s rotation pole is actually changing a lot. Our research shows that of the climate-related causes, groundwater redistribution actually has the greatest impact on the drift of the rotation pole.”

The study also looks at the effect that the distribution of water has on the mass of the planet, with the study stating: “Like adding a little bit of weight to a spinning top, the Earth spins a little differently when water is added moved.”

The study identifies water movement from western North America and northwestern India as the most important, with pumping of water from the mid-latitudes having the greatest impact on Earth’s rotation.

The study builds on previous research from 2016 that first put forward the idea – and it’s also more worrying news for the climate as it affects sea level rise.

Sea said: “I am very happy to find the unexplained cause of the rotation pole drift. On the other hand, as an inhabitant of the Earth and as a father, I am concerned and surprised to see that groundwater pumping is another source of sea level rise.”

It comes after 2024 research found that melting ice at our planet’s poles could change the Earth’s rotation.

This could lead to a delay in the “leap second” that would be added to the world clock in 2026, the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This may now have to be postponed until 2029. Read more here.

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