The Earth has tilted 31.5 inches and its all a result of human activity.
The way the planet rotates has been fundamentally changed by the process of pumping groundwater, and it is having a far bigger impact than previously imagined.
As a result, sea levels have risen .24 inches in less than two decades and the Earth has tilted 31.5 inches.
Your title is misleading. The article does not say that the 31.5 inch axis tilt is having a huge impact on our planet. It says groundwater pumping is causing changes in sea level and also causing a change in the axis tilt.
The axis tilt itself is an effect, not a cause.
But it is! I put my keys right here a few hundred years ago and now I can’t find them! I’ve looked in a 30.5 inch radius, so I’m pretty sure they’re gone for good.
You don’t think that has a huge impact? Really?
If A causes B and C it does not follow that B causes C. The hugeness of A B and C is not relevant to the causal relationship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_reasoning
Read his comment again. He’s saying sea level rise and axis tilt are both effects of a common cause. Without including the sea level rise, since it’s not an effect of the axial tilt, what is the huge impact of the change in the tilt?
Really.
Did you read the original article? The axis tilt was actually hard to detect because it’s dwarfed by all the other things that normally cause polar drift. (Yes, the axis tilt changes even in the absence of human activity).
A .24 inch sea level rise over two decades does not sound insignificant. And even if it is only a contributor, acting like it’s no big deal is an odd thing to do when it is literally contributing to an increase in sea level rise.
Are you going to start talking about how “the climate has always been changing” next?
Edit: Also, this is from the conclusions of the original paper- “Global climate model estimates indicate that groundwater depletion is a significant contributor to GMSL rise.”
Both of those things are caused by us pumping groundwater. The sea level rise is significant. But it only correlates with the axis tilt, it does not cause it.
Exactly.
In fact the purpose of the paper is to examine the effect of groundwater pumping on sea level. There are two competing hypotheses: (1) pumping decreases sea level by sequestering water, and (2) pumping increases sea level for complex reasons.
The authors noted that these hypotheses would imply different small changes in axis tilt. They measured axis tilt and found it supports hypothesis 2. The small change in axis tilt is simply a clever way to answer the question, it has no other impact on our life.
Sea level rise is certainly significant. But your title implies that it is caused by axis tilt. That’s incorrect. It is caused by groundwater pumping, which is also causing axis tilt. In other words, if axis tilt were magically reversed it wouldn’t make any difference on sea level.
Axis tilt is an effect, not a cause. You should read the original article, it’s less confusing than the summary you linked.