"Researchers comparing satellite measurements of the planet’s water with the wobble in its rotation identified a steady loss of global soil moisture."
"Earth has lost enough soil moisture in the last 40 years to change the planet’s spin and shift the location of the North Pole, according to a new study published today in Science that tracks how human activities have disrupted the global water cycle. The persistent loss of water from land to oceans has dried out huge portions of every continent and may be irreversible, scientists describing the new research said this week.
“Large regions in East and Central Asia, Central Africa, and North and South America show pronounced depletion,” between 2003 and 2007, the authors wrote. When they extended the timeframe to 2021, the depletion of soil moisture grew large enough to cover those areas and also included Europe and the Eastern U.S.
“This study provides robust evidence of an irreversible shift in terrestrial water sources under the present changes in climate,” said Luis Samaniego, a hydrology researcher at the UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany.
“The continents are drying out over time,” said Samaniego, who was not involved in the new study but wrote a related Perspective article in Science."
Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News March 27, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"Earth’s Soil Is Drying Up. It Could Be Irreversible." (Washington Post)
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