Chaos for navigation: the Earth’s poles could shift by 27 meters by 2100

Scientists from the Higher School of Economics Zurich in Switzerland have found that by the end of the century, the Earth’s geographical poles could shift by 27 meters due to melting of glaciers and ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Geographical poles — are the points at which the Earth’s axis of rotation intersects the surface. As our planet rotates around its own axis, oscillations occur caused by ocean currents, changes in the atmosphere and the planet’s core, which lead to mass redistribution. This process is also affected by melting of ice sheets and glaciers Antarctica is melting at an average rate of about 150 billion tons of ice per year, while Greenland is losing about 270 billion tons of ice per year. These billions of tons of water are redistributed around the globe, also affecting the pole shift.

These changes could lead to serious disruption of satellite navigation, which relies on the Earth’s rotation axis. According to the lead author of the study, Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi of the University of Vienna, the inaccuracies in the navigation of satellites and orbiting telescopes could reach several to hundreds of meters.

Shahvandi, together with a team of researchers from the Zurich University of Economics, analyzed satellite data and studied changes in pole movement from 1900 to the present and compared the data with predictions of ice melting. According to their estimates, if current greenhouse gas emissions and ice melt rates continue, the poles will shift by 27 meters by the end of 2100.

Under a more optimistic scenario, the North Pole will shift by 12 meters in any case. So far, the pole shift caused by human activity and glacial melting has not outweighed the impact of natural factors.

Currently, the biggest influence on the pole shift continues to be the planet’s recovery from the effects of the last ice age. Back then, the Earth’s crust sank under the pressure of the glaciers and then rose after they melted due to weight redistribution. Despite the fact that the last ice age ended 10 thousand years ago, the consequences of this still affect the displacement of the North Pole.

The researchers found that the largest sources of pole shift are melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet. If their melting continues at the same rate, humanity will face problems with the navigation systems of satellites and space telescopes in the future.

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The results of the study were published in Geophysical Research Letters

Source: IFL Science