The Story
GNSS sees Earth's surface move; multiple observing systems determine how much of that movement belongs to melting ice.
The measured change is real, but the ordinary scientific reading is broader than “ice melt alone.” GNSS records the solid Earth's response to changing loads; models then distinguish polar ice loss from glacial rebound, groundwater, hydrology, tectonics, and mantle effects. The strongest case comes from combining independent observing systems rather than treating one GNSS signal as a complete climate ledger.
- The study reports accelerated rounding of the solid Earth, with polar uplift and a shrinking equatorial bulge measured through GNSS.
- Global shape estimates must account for glacial isostatic adjustment, surface-mass redistribution, rotation, and mantle-driven processes.
- GRACE-based estimates of changes in Earth's oblateness agree with satellite-laser-ranging results and attribute seasonal variation mainly to terrestrial water storage and mass redistribution.
Deeper Insight
We moved the water. Earth changed shape. Now the planet can audit our climate footprint.
A millimeter of polar uplift sounds tiny until you remember the planet is keeping score. GNSS shows the poles rising and the equatorial bulge shrinking as ice, groundwater, and ocean water shift. Earth’s geometry is becoming a climate ledger, giving scientists a sharper way to track mass loss, water use, and the power those changes exert on the planet.
- Groundwater pumping was estimated to shift Earth's rotational pole by nearly 80 centimeters between 1993 and 2010, showing that human water redistribution affects planetary motion.
- The reported GNSS shape change captures a physical response to mass redistribution, but sparse polar and ocean coverage makes attribution less direct than the headline implies.
- Svalbard GNSS observations connect time-varying uplift to glacier-mass changes across annual to millennial timescales, giving a local example of the broader mechanism.
Sources · 9
- 7 Journals & institutions
- 1 News reporting
- 1 Forum, video, personal
What do these mean?
- Journals & institutions. Published in a peer-reviewed journal, or from a university, government body, court or other institution.
- News reporting. Journalism: newspapers, magazines and news sites.
- Forum, video, personal. Forums, social posts, video, blogs and personal accounts.
Featured · Analysis · livescience.com
Climate change is literally altering the shape of our planet
News reporting
Climate change is making Earth progressively rounder, new research finds. The findings are a signal of human-caused climate change, however, and tracking the shape of the Earth can help reveal just how much impact people are having on its ice caps. Our planet is not a perfect sphere. Because of its rotation, it is a bit flatter at the poles and bulges in the middle. But the new study reveals that
Read sourceAnalysis · link.springer.com
Secular changes in Earth’s shape and surface mass loading derived from combinations of reprocessed global GPS networks | Journal of Geodesy | Springer Nature Link
Journal · peer-reviewed
Secular changes in Earth’s shape and surface mass loading derived from combinations of reprocessed global GPS networks | Journal of Geodesy | Springer Nature Link # Secular changes in Earth’s shape and surface mass loading derived from combinations of reprocessed global GPS networks - Original Artic
Read sourceAnalysis · doi.org
Time-varying uplift in Svalbard—an effect of glacial changes
Journal · peer-reviewed
# Time-varying uplift in Svalbard—an effect of glacial changes Geophysical Journal International. Published: 2022-07-08. 26 citations. ## Authors - Halfdan Pascal Kierulf (Norwegian Mapping Authority): h-index 15; 991 citations; corresponding author - Jack Kohler (Norwegian Polar Institute): h-index
Read source