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Irrigation may be shifting Earth’s rotational axis

Runoff from irrigation has moved so much water from land to sea that Earth’s rotation might have measurably shifted. Computer simulations suggest that from 1993 through 2010, irrigation alone nudged the North Pole by about 78 centimetres, researchers reported in Geophysical Research Letters. That would make irrigation the second largest contributor to polar drift after the ongoing rebound of Earth’s surface following the retreat of glaciers since the last ice age.